SK Telecom enters Japan's pet care market

South Korea’s SK Telecom Co. has entered the Japanese pet market using its innovative artificial intelligence (AI) under a tie-up with Japan’s largest companion animal insurer to provide AI imaging diagnostic services for pets. 

This comes just a year after SK Telecom's entry into the imaging diagnostic market.

The company on Tuesday said it signed an agreement with Japan’s Anicom Holdings on Sept. 20 on the distribution of X Caliber, an AI-based image diagnostics service, to veterinary hospitals in Japan.

Anicom leads the Japanese pet insurance market with a 46% share and runs a veterinary hospital through a subsidiary.

Under this deal, SK Telecom has entered the lucrative Japanese pet market, which is three times larger than South Korea’s. The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said the Japanese market last year reached 1.75 trillion yen (15.9 trillion won or $11.7 billion) in value, far higher than South Korea’s 5 trillion won.

Japan also has three times the number of veterinary hospitals (about 12,000) than South Korea (some 4,000). Anicom is also building ties with over 6,000 of its nation’s veterinary hospitals, meaning that half of them are potential clients of SK Telecom.

SK Telecom is promoting its AI unit to reduce its heavy reliance on communications. Imaging diagnostics stands out as a sector for its rapid results. 

Since its launch in September last year, the company has supplied X Calibur to about 300 veterinary hospitals in South Korea. This diagnostic service uses AI to analyze a dog’s X-ray images to detect heart abnormalities.

“We plan this year to expand our diagnostic scope to companion animals,” an SK Telecom source said. “We’re also preparing health management services for each pet’s lifecycle using data from Anicom Holdings.”

Write to Ju-Hyun Lee at deep@hankyung.com