The safety service will be expanded to 25 districts in Seoul in the first half of next year.
Establishing a system to protect socially vulnerable groups, such as elderly people with dementia and children.

"Smart cities," which incorporate cutting-edge ICT technologies to solve urban problems and build smart cities, are attracting attention. SK Telecom is leading the way in realizing smart cities by addressing urban challenges, expanding its services to include the protection of elderly people with dementia and children, the safety of teachers working in remote areas, and the personal safety of crime victims.

SK Telecom's Citizen Safety Network initiative began in 2012 with the "Smart T Guardian" app. Since then, it has expanded beyond 3G and LTE to leverage LoRa networks, and the number of users of the intelligent emergency call system has now surpassed 100,000.

Kim Seong-han, head of SK Telecom's IoT Solutions Business Division, said, "The safety service that connects local government CCTVs and the National Police Agency is available in five locations: Seongdong-gu in Seoul, Gangseo-gu in Busan, Daejeon, Osan, and Anyang." He added, "It will be available in Suwon, Siheung, Incheon, Gwangju, and Gimhae within the year, and will be applied to 25 districts in Seoul in the first half of next year."

SK Telecom divides its smart city business into six areas: transportation, safety, energy, environment, convenience, economy, and revitalization. By adding devices, sensors, IoT, and platforms, we plan to provide various services such as intelligent pedestrian safety, fire prevention management, BEMS, fine dust monitoring, and digital signage.

SK Telecom has been working with the Ministry of Education since 2014 to develop "U-Safety Alert," a smart city technology program designed to ensure student safety. This service offers features such as student arrival and departure notifications, location tracking, emergency calls and alerts, and phone calls. With the rise of dual-income households, it has become a valuable tool in today's society, with over 36,000 users.

Additionally, last year, the Ministry of Education launched the "Teacher Safety Service," which sends emergency alerts to ensure the safety of teachers working in remote areas. This year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and approximately 6,000 welfare workers responsible for home visits launched the "Safety Guardian" service, which allows immediate emergency calls.

Then, in July of last year, an agreement was signed with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Sejong City, Anyang City, Osan City, and Korea Land and Housing Corporation to ‘establish a socially vulnerable protection linkage system.’ Based on this, we have established a social protection system for the socially vulnerable, aimed at protecting the disabled, elderly with dementia, and children, linked to an intelligent emergency call service, and are currently providing a service to prevent disappearance of elderly with dementia by participating in the 'Project to Make Seongdong-gu Safer' of Seongdong-gu, Seoul.

Chief Kim explained, “While the U-City project launched in 2005 simply monitored urban infrastructure by incorporating ICT, the smart city goes one step further and integrates the city’s physical, complex spaces with technology and services to create an ecosystem.”

He added, "We will move toward integrating existing individual services into a single platform. We will lead by integrating various partners into a single, massive platform where data is mashed up, disclosed, and shared."