5G-Powered Drones Deliver Medical Supplies to Ships

A suite of 5G services is coming to Singapore’s maritime industry, including a drone-operated medicine delivery service, in a new rollout from mobile operator M1.

The company announced four new 5G offerings for the shipping industry, including a telemedicine service that will connect workers to doctors on shore, and a 5G-enabled drone service transporting medicine from shore to ship. 

The company is partnering with health care platform Fullerton Health for the telemedicine service, which is due to launch in July and will run using M1’s 5G stand-alone network.

Other solutions announced as part of the company’s SMARTsafe suite include plug-and-play tools such as video surveillance for security and worker safety, autonomous robotics for asset inspection and wearable devices such as smart glasses to boost productivity and efficiency.

The rollout is one of the first to explore 5G applications at sea and is part of M1’s mission to expand 5G network connectivity across the southern coast of Singapore. 

“M1 continues to double down on our efforts to co-create and introduce viable 5G-enabled commercial solutions to further revolutionize Singapore’s maritime operations and make Maritime 5G a reality,” said Manjot Singh Mann, M1’s CEO. “This launch is a testament to our promise to deliver readily available innovative 5G solutions that can be adopted and rolled out easily by businesses to improve business efficiency.”

“We want to harness the 5G network to provide virtual health care solutions, including telehealth and remote patient monitoring and care team collaboration,” said Ho Kuen Loon, Fullerton Health’s CEO. “The future of health care digitalization is exciting, especially with the innovations that will come from 5G mobility.”