SKT Expands Pet AI Medical Service Globally

SK Telecom is accelerating the global expansion of its pet AI healthcare business.

On the 19th, SKT announced that it has signed a strategic partnership with ATX Medical Solutions, Australia's largest medical device distributor, to advance the overseas expansion of its pet AI medical service, Excalibur. ATX supplies various medical imaging equipment, including X-rays, to veterinary hospitals across Australia.

As of 2022, 69% of households in Australia have adopted pets, a rate higher than that of the United States (57%) and the United Kingdom (40%). In particular, the number of pet cats in Australia is about 4 million, twice that of Korea, making the pet cat market significant. SKT plans to actively promote Excalibur in veterinary hospitals throughout Australia in collaboration with ATX.

Earlier in September, SKT also formed a strategic partnership with Smitech, Singapore's largest medical device distributor. Smitech distributes veterinary medical devices and solutions to veterinary hospitals in Singapore.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the number of households adopting pets in Singapore has increased significantly, and the concept of 'Pet Humanization'?treating pets like people?has spread, leading to advanced awareness of pets. Considering these market characteristics, SKT plans to promote cooperation on animal medical AI technology with large veterinary hospitals in Singapore and expand the distribution of Excalibur.

Recently, SKT expanded Excalibur's diagnostic range from dogs to cats. The AI analyzes X-ray images of cats and can diagnose 5 types of chest conditions and 7 types of abdominal conditions within 15 seconds, while also automatically measuring heart size. For dogs, it can diagnose 7 types of musculoskeletal conditions, 10 types of chest conditions, 16 types of abdominal conditions, and measure heart size.

The most frequently used diagnostic area for Excalibur is heart size measurement. Since heart size measurement is highly accurate and requires a short time, it received positive feedback from veterinarians during dog diagnoses, and SKT expects it to be equally useful for cat diagnoses.

SKT has also begun collaborating with Woorien, a domestic electronic chart business. SKT plans to improve usability so that all veterinary hospitals in Korea can easily use Excalibur within electronic charts.