Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- SK Telecom, a top mobile carrier in South Korea, announced the establishment of a digital healthcare joint venture to provide an individual platform for managing chronic diseases and smart solutions for medical institutions at home and abroad by using information and communications technology.

SK Telecom (SKT) said on Wednesday that it has spun off its healthcare business to create a joint venture named Invites Healthcare, which was joined by partners with extensive experience in the field such as SCL Healthcare, a domestic healthcare company. SKT will partner with domestic firms to seek opportunities in the overseas healthcare market.

SKT is the second-largest shareholder of the joint venture with a 43.4 percent stake. Newlake Alliance Management, a South Korean private equity fund, is the largest shareholder. Kim Joon-yun, who served as head of SKT's healthcare division, was appointed as CEO of Invites Healthcare.

"Invites Healthcare will promote diverse business opportunities by applying state-of-the-art ICT to medical fields," Kim said. "Ultimately, Invites Healthcare will offer a wide variety of digital healthcare services that can help people protect their health and lead innovations in the digital healthcare ecosystem."

SKT said that the joint venture would develop ICT-based chronic disease management services such as Coach-coach Diabetes, a digital platform that enables diabetic patients to self-manage their blood sugar level, diet and exercises and allows physicians to monitor data in real time.

With smart solutions, the joint venture will help medical institutions and hospitals realize ICT-driven innovations and boost operational efficiency in the purchase and management of medical supplies. It will develop cloud-based solutions powered by SKT's quantum cryptography and blockchain technologies for the secure storage and efficient analysis of medical data.

SKT has identified healthcare to be a potential growth engine. In May 2019, the company agreed with Yonsei University's Severance Hospital to build a 5G digital hospital that will develop specialized solutions using artificial intelligence, IoT and various media technologies.