MCMC Clarifies Mobile Phone Data Collection for National Statistics

CYBERJAYA, June 6, 2025 — The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has addressed concerns over the collection of mobile phone data (MPD) from Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), assuring the public that no Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is accessed, processed, or disclosed.

The anonymised data is collected solely to generate official statistics for evidence-based policymaking in two key areas: the ICT sector and tourism. For the ICT sector, the data helps produce detailed statistics, such as active mobile broadband subscriptions and penetration rates at various geographic levels, including state, district, and local authority. In tourism, it supports indicators like visitor numbers and domestic tourism trips.

MCMC emphasized that the data provided by MNOs is anonymised and contains no PII. MNOs can either process the data in their secure environments and submit aggregated outputs to MCMC or, if lacking processing capabilities, provide anonymised data for MCMC to process. In both cases, individual subscribers cannot be identified.

This initiative, part of a government strategy to enhance national statistics, is implemented in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the UN Committee of Experts on Big Data and Data Science. It aligns with global best practices, similar to projects in Indonesia and Brazil, where anonymised telecom data improves statistics while protecting privacy.

Over the past two years, MCMC has engaged extensively with MNOs, including a National Workshop from September 2-5, 2024, attended by representatives from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), ITU, the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, and MNOs like CelcomDigi, Maxis, TM Tech, U Mobile, and YTL.