Following reports that the Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has ordered telcos to share user call and internet usage records, the regulator has issued an official response through a public statement. Addressing privacy concerns, the regulator emphasised that no Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is accessed, processed or disclosed in the data collection exercise.
The MCMC said that the collection of “Mobile Phone Data” from mobile network operators (MNO) is used strictly for the generation of official statistics to support evidence-based policymaking in two key domains:
- ICT Sector: to produce granular statistics such as the number of active mobile broadband subscriptions and penetration rates at the state, district, mukim, parliamentary constituency, DUN, and local authority levels.
- Tourism Sector: to generate indicators such as the number of visitors, and domestic tourism trips.
The regulator added that the data requested from the MNOs are anonymised and contains to PII. It added that the telcos were given the option to either:
- Process the MPD within their own secure environment and submit the required anonymised and aggregated output to MCMC, or
- Submit the anonymised data to MCMC for processing (For MNOs without in-house processing capabilities)
MCMC said in both scenarios, no individual subscriber can be identified through the data collected.
Clarifying the use of the MPD, the MCMC said that it will serve as a new source of national statistics and it is a strategic direction set by the government to strengthen the quality and timeliness of statistical outputs for policy and planning purposes. It added that the implementation of MPD is through the collaboration with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the UN Committee of Experts on Big Data and Data Science.
The MCMC also said that an extensive engagement with all MNOs has been carried out over the past two years to ensure mutual understanding of the data requirements, processes and privacy safeguards. These include the MPD National Workshop, held from 2 to 5 September 2024, attended by representations from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture (MOTAC) and MNOs (CelcomDigi, Maxis, TM, U Mobile and YTL).
The regulator also said that the initiative aligns with international best practices and it mirrors similar projects conducted in other countries including Indonesia and Brazil which relies on anonymised telecommunications data to enhance national statistics while safeguarding user privacy.
