Mobility Insights
Data-driven insights on movement and location
Mobility Insights uses aggregated and anonymized data on movement and profiles generated by one of the largest samples in Germany from billions of daily network events. By working with carefully selected partners, this data is transformed into valuable insights that benefit both the economy and society.
At O2 Telefónica, we prioritize the protection of customer data and are dedicated to empowering people to take control of their digital lives. These principles guide our work in the Mobility Insights area, where we develop solutions for Transport planners, media agencies, property developers, retail brands and more.
Example use cases
Anonymized data
Take responsibility
Privacy protection
Make your own decision
Frequently asked questions
Example use cases
Anonymized data
To analyze anonymized data, O2 Telefónica utilizes two distinct data sources. The first is the vast amount of data generated through our regular business processes, made up of 45.1 million mobile connections. As a network operator, we have exclusive access to certain types of data, such as mobility data, generated when mobile devices communicate with cell towers, for example when making calls or browsing the internet.
In addition to this, we also possess sociodemographic data on our customers, such as age and gender, which can be included in the large anonymized data pool.
This data pool can then be used to generate insights about movement flows for various groups, benefiting transportation companies and cities, among others.
 1. Data accrues in mobile radio operation |  2. Anonymization and aggregation of data - objection possible |  3. Analysis of anonymized data |  4. Solutions for economy and society |
Our Data Anonymization Process
Making Information Statistically Useful While Preserving Privacy
Millions of customers trust our communication networks every day, making the protection and security of their data our top priority. O2 Telefónica has developed the Data Anonymization Platform (DAP), a multi-stage process that uses one of the world's strictest data protection standards to reliably anonymize data.
Mobility data is generated when mobile devices communicate with our mobile cells, such as when making phone calls.
Our three-step anonymisation process.
- Segmentation
- Transformation
- Aggregation and
extrapolation
Our Data Anonymization Platform (DAP) ensures comprehensive data protection and privacy preservation. However, we believe that individuals should retain control over the use of their data. That’s why we offer a tool for you to check your data usage status and make changes if necessary.
Take responsibility
Transparency and self-determination for our customers
Handling data responsibly and sustainably
As more and more applications aim to simplify our daily lives, data analysis has become increasingly essential. From instantaneous internet searches to on-time package deliveries, and even spam filters that recognize text patterns to block unwanted emails.
All of these rely on statistical methods that examine data for recurring patterns and derive valuable insights from them. It's simple; the larger the data pool, the clearer the patterns, and the more reliable the findings.
Trust is crucial for new data-driven business models
As digital technologies continue to generate an increasing amount of data, statistical applications are becoming more versatile. However, this also raises new requirements and challenges in terms of responsible data handling and sustainable protection of privacy.
At O2 Telefónica, we have been working for years to establish new standards that make digital technologies more secure and transparent. We believe that everyone should have the confidence that their data is safe and be able to shape their own digital lives.
New insights from data analysis
With 45.1 million customer connections, Telefónica Germany has access to a large amount of data because of its normal business processes. This includes a lot of data that is exclusively available to us as a network operator, such as mobility data.
This data is generated when mobile devices communicate with mobile cells, such as when making calls or browsing the internet. To protect user privacy, Telefónica anonymizes this data before using it to calculate anonymized movement flows. By intelligently analyzing and linking this data, we can derive valuable insights that are relevant to a broad range of industries, municipalities, public transportation operators, and society as a whole.
Secure Anonymized Data Usage
To enable responsible statistical analysis, Telefónica Germany has developed a three-stage process for anonymizing data: the Telefónica Anonymized data: The Telefónica Data Anonymization Platform (DAP). This platform meets the highest data protection standards and ensures that no individual can be identified through the compiled statistics.
Even with anonymization, Telefónica Germany believes that customers should always retain control over their data usage. That's why you can check the status of your anonymized data usage and modify it if needed. This service is available to all customers of Telefónica Germany's networks, regardless of their brand (e.g., O2).
Privacy protection
Data protection and data analysis - balancing privacy and insights
At O2 Telefónica, we understand the importance of protecting individual privacy while still enabling valuable data analysis. That's why we use anonymization techniques to safeguard personal data before analyzing it. For statistical applications, the key is the relevance of the data - the more similar data we have, the clearer patterns become, making it easier to derive insights. However, the focus is on groups of individuals rather than individual behaviors.
Our Telefónica Data Anonymization Platform (DAP) uses advanced processes to generalize and aggregate data, grouping it together while protecting privacy at every step. The DAP goes beyond aggregation to offer two additional layers of protection, ensuring privacy is preserved throughout the entire analysis process. This approach ensures that data is useful for statistical applications, while maintaining the privacy of our customers.
Secure and Responsible Data Processing
Protection of personal data is of utmost importance to O2 Telefónica, which is why all processing steps are carried out in separate, highly secure data centers.
- Segmentation To ensure privacy protection, the data is first segmented into its smallest components using specialized processes, which are then distributed to independent areas. This step ensures de facto anonymity as the data records cannot be linked to each other.
- Transformation The next step involves the transformation of the individual components through fixed processing steps where existing characteristics are generalized, randomly modified, or discarded. This allows for the controlled linking of the components while maintaining anonymity.
- Aggregation and extrapolation Finally, similar characteristics are aggregated to create representative groups which are then extrapolated to all customers and even the population as a whole. This results in a statistical statement, which is the only relevant information for the analysis. Throughout all the processing steps, privacy is maintained, and no inferences can be drawn about individuals.
Make your own decision
You retain control over your data
Valid statistical analyses form the basis for better planning. The network operator O2 Telefónica may include your data in statistical analyses after it has been completely anonymized and no longer contains any reference to a single person.
From this, O2 Telefónica calculates, among other things, anonymized movement flows that provide important insights for business and society. Further information can be found here. The "Data Anonymization Platform" used in this process offers comprehensive and sustainable privacy protection and sets new standards in an international comparison.
The Data Anonymization Platform offers comprehensive and sustainable privacy protection and sets new standards internationally.
Nevertheless, as an O2 Telefónica customer, you should always retain control over the use of your data. Therefore, you can adjust the status for the use of your anonymized data as needed, as described below. This service is available for customers of all brands (e.g., O2) in the O2 Telefónica networks.
Your participation
If you do not wish to object to your participation in statistical evaluations, you do not have to do anything.
However, if you would like to unsubscribe or subscribe again later, please proceed as follows:
1. send an SMS with the text subscribe or unsubscribe to the short code 66866.*
2. subscribe means "I will participate", unsubscribe means "I do not want to participate".
3. you will receive a confirmation after receiving your SMS.
| * | Sending an SMS to the short code 66866 from the mobile networks of O2 Telefonica is free of charge for you. |
For our roaming customers:
If you do not wish to object to your participation in statistical analyses, you do not have to do anything.
However, if you would like to unsubscribe or re-register later, please proceed as follows:
1. Send an short message with the text Register or Unsubscribe to +491771789498.**
2. Register stands for "I participate", Unsubscribe for "I do not want to participate".
3. you will receive a confirmation after we receiving your short message.
| ** | The price for sending a short message to +491771789498 is determined by your mobile phone contract with your service provider (cost of a short message abroad). |
Frequently asked questions
We don't want to leave you with a question mark. Here you will find the answers to frequently asked questions about data analysis and its use.
1. Which data does O2 Telefonica use?
2. What do you do with the anonymized data? What insights do you want to draw from it? Are there already specific products?
3. Are raw data also sold to third parties?
4. What does the customer get out of it?
5. How do you protect your customers' data - also from criminals?
6. Does the customer have to actively agree to anonymous data processing? Or are they automatically included?
7. I do not want my data to be used. What can I do?
8. Are your analytics compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation?
Contact
Questions about Mobility Insights?
If you are a blogger or journalist, please contact our colleagues in the press office with any questions.
