UK officials are in talks with mobile network operators about using their data to aid government efforts to repatriate Britons stranded abroad because of the coronavirus crisis, said three people familiar with the matter.
Britain’s four mobile phone companies and the government are discussing how to use customer roaming data to help charter rescue flights, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Roaming bills could be used to work out how many customers are in different countries, two of the people said.