KT to expand digital bio health business to Vietnam Mobile carrier plans to establish medical corporation there later this year
Translated by Kim So-in 공개 2022-04-15 08:06:21
이 기사는 2022년 04월 15일 08:04 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.
South Korea’s leading mobile carrier KT Corp plans to establish a medical corporation and launch a pilot telemedicine platform in Vietnam later this year as it aims to expand its digital bio health business to Southeast Asia.The company said on Wednesday that it signed an agreement with Hanoi Medical University in Vietnam to offer pilot telemedicine services for chronically-ill patients. They agreed to develop chronic disease management services, jointly research artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the medical sector and train medical staff there.
KT will also launch a pilot telemedicine platform service in Vietnam by the end of this year. To do so, the mobile carrier plans to establish a medical corporation there within this year.
“We are preparing to sign a separate agreement by forming an advisory group with the most prestigious medical staff in Korea and we plan to train medical staff to be hired by the new local medical corporation,” said Ko Hun-seok, a project manager at KT's digital and bio health business department.
Since the pandemic broke out, telemedicine is becoming more common around the world, with one in six patients in the U.S. using telemedicine services. KT turned to overseas telemedicine markets as telemedicine services are prohibited in Korea.
The mobile carrier has chosen Vietnam as its first target as the country is the fifth fastest-ageing country in the world. While the social and economic burden will increase in the future, the country is still insufficient to meet its telemedicine infrastructure needs.
KT expects its business to settle down in the next two to three years and plans to expand the business to other Southeast Asian countries.
Digital transformation effort
In 2020, KT newly established the digital and bio health organization, within the future value promotion office to strengthen its digital healthcare business. At the end of last year, the organization was escalated to the digital and bio health business department.
KT is focusing on eight new growth engines as part of its move to transform into a digital platform company. The businesses include commerce, content, finance, real estate, AI, robot, healthcare and cloud.
For the commerce business, KT launched KT Alpha last year through a merger of KTH and KT Mhows. For the content business, the mobile carrier established KT Studio Genie and put related affiliates under the media unit.
KT completed vertical integration of BC Card and K bank for its finance business. It is also preparing to list K bank on the stock market as part of its efforts to improve a corporate value. KT Estate is operating the real estate business.
KT plans to dominate the service robot ecosystem, starting with the AI quarantine robot. The mobile carrier separated its cloud and internet data center business earlier this month and created KT Cloud.
The company plans to develop the healthcare business to create synergies with AI, big data and cloud businesses. When the healthcare business achieves visible outcome, the company may carry out restructuring like it did with KT Cloud. (Reporting by Jang-jun Lee)
< 저작권자 ⓒ 자본시장 미디어 'thebell', 무단 전재, 재배포 및 AI학습 이용 금지 >
관련기사
best clicks
최신뉴스 in 전체기사
-
- '재무개선' AJ네트웍스, 조달비용 '확' 낮췄다
- '9년만에 엑시트' 한앤코, 한온시스템 거래구조 살펴보니
- 한국타이어앤테크놀로지, 한온시스템 인수한다
- [수술대 오른 커넥트웨이브]2대주주 지분매입 나선 MBK, 주식교환 카드 꺼냈다
- [이사회 모니터]이재용 에이비프로바이오 대표, 바이오·반도체 신사업 '드라이브'
- 와이투솔루션, 주인 바뀌어도 '신약' 중심엔 美 합작사 '룩사'
- 아이티센, 부산디지털자산거래소 본격 출범
- 아이에스시, AI·데이터센터 수주 증가에 '날개'
- [이사회 모니터]서정학 IBK증권 대표, ESG위원회도 참여 '영향력 확대'
- SW클라우드 '10주년' 폴라리스오피스, “초격차 밸류업”