KT seeks to leverage 5G tech in global fight against disease

Ranging from ultrafast downloading of lengthy movies to driving autonomous vehicles on connected urban highways, the 5G network is expected to enable futuristic technologies.
With telecom companies around the world seeking to maximize benefits of 5G technology, Korea’s leading mobile carrier KT is envisioning an area where the technology can fulfill its potential globally: disease prevention.
“Human beings and animals suffer from infectious disease, and about $60 billion (Bt1,854 billion) is being spent a year around the world to prevent suffering,” KT chief Hwang Chang-gyu said during a speech at the World Food Organisation last month.
“In the era of the 5G network, information and communication technology can make the visions of the ‘fourth industrial revolution' a reality. Based on the advanced technology, we can protect humans and animals from infectious diseases.”
Over the past few years, KT has introduced its disease prevention platforms to countries around the world. Based on massive data collected by the advanced network, KT is seeking to establish a global warning system for pandemics.
During the World Economic Forum in Davos last year, Hwang proposed an initiative called the “Global Epidemic Prevention Platform”. He called for each country to implement the system aimed at warning about pandemics through mobile devices.
Kenya, Ghana, Laos and other developing countries have since been trying to provide the service for people visiting areas prone to infectious diseases. KT said the advanced travel-warning system is to become available as later this year.
“In a normal situation, only those who agreed to provide personal information can receive information about diseases,” said KT officials. “But the alarm system is available to everyone in the event of pandemic diseases.”
Recently, KT has sought to broaden the scope of the GEPP initiative, expanding its disease prevention system to livestock, which can be as vulnerable to transnational pandemics as humans.
Dubbed the “Livestock Epidemic Prevention Platform,” the initiative aims to stem the cross-border flow of infectious diseases among animals. Some Asian countries have suffered recently from African swine fever, which is thought to have originated in Africa.
To improve the disease prevention system, KT urged governments around the world to collect information on animal diseases and share this with each other. The company also pledged to protect sensitive information through blockchain technology.
“Using ICT technology can not only boost agricultural productivity but can also free livestock from the danger of infectious diseases,” KT chief Hwang said in his speech at an international conference hosted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation last month.
The idea of using a mobile network to combat infectious diseases became popular in South Korea during the 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome crisis. Having originated from countries in the Middle East, the disease claimed 37 lives after infecting 186 people in Korea.
During the public health crisis, KT introduced a system to figure out whether a passenger entering Korea had visited MERS-infected countries. If the passenger were found to have visited such countries, KT shared the information with the Korean disease prevention agency.
While the current alarm system mostly focuses on notifying authorities about whether a traveller visited countries prone to infectious diseases, KT is seeking to establish an early warning system for global pandemics.
“Through ICT technology, KT will materialise the social value of public health and safety,” KT Vice President Yoon Jong-jin said last month, when the company pledged to work with the Korean Society of Infectious Disease to develop an early warning system for diseases.
In Thailand, Julian Gorman, head of Asia Pacific at GSMA, said that in 2025 around 1.4 million of people in the global will be connected or subscribed with 5G connections and around 50 per cent of totally is subscribers from China.

For Thailand, 5G will create high potential growth in the country and boost values for the digital economy in various industries such as healthcare, education, smart agriculture and manufacturing. The 5G network will able to improve efficiency of business and create a 5G ecosystem for the country as a whole.