Telenor Hungary helps keep doctors and patients connected

Just over six years ago, Pál Miletics and the business products team at Telenor Hungary (called Pannon at the time) developed a connected electrocardiogram (ECG) solution. Patients were remotely monitored by sensors that collected cardio data. This data was then sent to the doctors’ mobile phones via Telenor Hungary’s network. This end-to-end application was developed to demonstrate the possibilities of merging the mobile phone and healthcare solutions, as well as to show Telenor Hungary’s capabilities in this field.

Mobile health is part of the Digital Hungary program

Since this first ECG project, Telenor Hungary has delved deeply into mobile health (mHealth). As the second largest mobile operator in Hungary, the company ranks first when it comes to machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions. Their mobile health projects are run under the umbrella of “Digital Hungary”, a program that targets companies, governments and cities with converged mobile solutions.

Today Pál Miletics is the Head of Digital Hungary, handling all types of business-related value-added services, including M2M solutions and cloud computing. Miletics believes that mHealth is a natural fit on the Digital Hungary agenda, and as a result has engaged Telenor’s Hungarian business unit in projects ranging from remote care for the elderly to the monitoring of fetal heart rates during pregnancy.

Telenor Hungary has a significant market share in M2M segment

“In the M2M segment, Telenor Hungary has substantial market share, and by our definition mHealth is part of M2M. We have made mHealth a priority, as we would like to be a pioneer of this technology in anticipation of the huge growth that is expected over the next few years,” said Miletics.

Why Hungary?

Miletics attributes much of Hungary’s dedication to the medical sector to the country’s history. During the communism era, Hungary placed much emphasis on medical developments, which led to the birth of many medical device companies. The companies were eventually acquired by the power players such as General Electric, Omron and LaRoche, who are still located in Hungary today. When these companies decided that they wanted to add connectivity to their devices, they found themselves on Telenor Hungary’s doorstep.

“A few years ago, Telenor conducted some research on what types of industries were strongest in Hungary, and the medical industry came out on top,” explained Miletics. “In terms of our role in the European Union, Hungary is very strong in the mHealth area, largely due to the presence of these large, international and well-known medical companies.”

Helping the Hungarian government reduce costs

While Hungary may not represent a key market in terms of mHealth device sales, Telenor Hungary believes that the country serves as an ideal testing ground for these services. The Hungarian healthcare industry is currently hard-pressed to meet demand – one of the fallouts of the financial crisis that hit Hungary particularly hard. With too many patients and not enough doctors, Telenor Hungary saw an opportunity to help reduce healthcare costs through mHealth solutions.

“The Hungarian government has given its support to Telenor Hungary to roll-out projects in which we are targeting groups of people with medical devices. For example, out of the 10 million people in Hungary, there are two million people suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure or another chronic disease. These problems account for approximately 70 percent of the country’s healthcare costs. By our calculations, giving just 400,000 of these people a mobile health device can result in significant reductions in healthcare costs.”

Close collaboration across Telenor Group

To successfully implement all of their mHealth initiatives, Telenor Hungary relies on collaboration with Telenor Connexion, Telenor Objects and the other Telenor business units. Within this value chain, Telenor Hungary serves as the developer, Telenor Connexion delivers the connectivity, Telenor Objects provides the platform and the business units represent the sales channels.

Telenor Hungary plays important role in the infrastructure of the medical industry

Telenor Hungary has come a long way since its first ECG solution six years ago. They have managed to position themselves as Telenor’s most active business unit in terms of their vast number of mHealth-related initiatives.

“Following the mobile ECG project, we have launched a fetal monitoring system, an elderly care solution, a sports application to monitor vitals, an end-to-end eHealth platform and many others,” said Miletics. “We do this because we feel it is important for Telenor Hungary to play a role in the infrastructure of the medical industry, and to do our part in supporting the EU’s priorities to improve health security, reduce health inequalities and aid the spread of health-related knowledge. We are well on our way.”