PETALING JAYA: No personally identifiable information (PII) will be accessed, processed or disclosed in the government's collection of mobile phone data from mobile network operators.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said this after privacy concerns were raised over the matter.
"Mobile phone data is used strictly for the generation of official statistics to support evidence-based policymaking in two key domains, namely the ICT (information and communications technology) and tourism sectors," the MCMC said in a statement on Friday (June 6) night.
It said the usage of the data for the ICT sector is to produce granular statistics such as the number of active mobile broadband subscriptions and penetration rates at the state, district, mukim, parliamentary and state assembly constituencies and local authority levels.
For the tourism sector, the mobile phone data will be used to generate indicators such as the number of visitors, and domestic tourism trips.
"The data requested from mobile network operators is anonymised and contains no PII," the MCMC added.
In addition, mobile network operators are given the option to process the data within their own secure environment and submit the required anonymised and aggregated output to MCMC.
The operators also have another option, whereby those without in-house processing capabilities can submit the anonymised data to MCMC for processing.
"In both cases, no individual subscriber can be identified through the data collected.
"The use of mobile phone data as a new source of national statistics is a strategic direction set by the government to strengthen the quality and timeliness of statistical outputs for policy and planning purposes," the MCMC said.
The implementation of the MPD project is through collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the UN Committee of Experts on Big Data and Data Science.
"Over the past two years, extensive engagement with all mobile network operators has been carried out to ensure mutual understanding of the data requirements, processes and privacy safeguards.
"These included the MPD National Workshop, held from Sept 2 to 5, 2024, attended by representatives from Statistics Department; ITU; the Communications Ministry; Tourism, Art and Culture Ministry and mobile network operators (CelcomDigi, Maxis, TM Tech, U Mobile and YTL)," the MCMC said.
It added that this initiative aligns with international best practices.
"It mirrors similar projects already implemented in countries such as Indonesia and Brazil, where anonymised telecommunications data is used to enhance national statistics while fully safeguarding user privacy," the MCMC said.
