South Korea’s telecom giant KT Corp. is teaming up with Russia’s largest state-run bank Sberbannk to jump into the digital healthcare business in Russia.

The Korean company said on Saturday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Russian bank to jointly build an integrated system for patients’ data management by connecting Sberbannk’s mobile medical appointment service dubbed DocDoc to its mobile diagnostic system and digital platform. Also, the two companies plan to build a hospital that applies KT’s smart solutions in Russia to further expand to near CIS countries.

Sberbannk is Russia’s largest state-run bank that operates 14,826 branches across the country, and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation owns a 52 percent stake in it. The bank has recently taken over a startup that offers medical appointment service to users, accelerating its forays into the digital healthcare business.

“We’ll expand our presence in the Russian healthcare market with growth potential based on our 5G network, big data and AI technologies,” said a KT official.

KT has signed a contract with Russia’s top railroad company Russian Railways in December to ramp up its digital healthcare business in Russia. The project with the railroad company will kick off in the first half of this year.

By Seo Dong-cheol and Lee Ha-yeon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]