Telefonica plans to give customers more control over their data

epa04635131 A USB data stick by Telefonica Germany lies on a laptop keyboard after the annual results press conference at the company's headquarters in Duesseldorf, Germany, 24 February 2015. Telefonica Deutschland (Telefonica Germany) said they expect significant synergies from merger with German telecoms provider E-Plus Group already in 2015. Combined annual revenues following the acquisition and merger of E-Plus were at 7.79 billion Euro in 2014, while mobile service revenues were slightly up by 0.3 per cent year-on-year excluding the impact from mobile termination rate cuts. Telefonica saids underlying operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) for the full year reached 1.46 billion Euro on a combined basis of Telefonica and E-Plus excluding extraordinary effects e.g. capital gains or restructuring costs. EPA/ROLF VENNENBERND EPA/ROLF VENNENBERND

Telefonica SA plans to hand the data it collects from phone customers back to them to use and keep – even if they change providers – in hopes that a fresh approach to concerns like privacy and control will foster greater loyalty. 

The initiative, announced Sunday by chairman and chief executive officer Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete, seeks to overhaul Telefonica’s relationship with consumers by letting them manage their data and where it goes. Pallete, speaking at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, said the cognitive-intelligence technology, dubbed Aura, will lower subscriber churn.