The contribution of telco data to fight the COVID-19 pandemic: Experience of Telefonica throughout its footprint

The contribution of telco data to fight the COVID-19 pandemic: Experience of Telefonica throughout its footprint

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global challenge for humanity, in which a large number of resources are invested to develop effective vaccines and treatments. At the same time, governments try to manage the spread of the disease while alleviating the strong impact derived from the slowdown in economic ac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Data & Policy Vol. 3
Main Authors: de Alarcon, Pedro A., Salevsky, Alejandro, Gheti-Kao, Daniel, Rosalen, Willian, Duarte, Marby C., Cuervo, Carlos, Muñoz, Jose J., Pascual, Juan M., Schurig, Martin, Treß, Thomas, Diaz, Elena, de la Cuesta, Carlos, Frias-Martinez, Enrique
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 01-01-2021
Subjects:
Artificial intelligence
Big Data
Capacity building approach
Cellular telephones
Cholera
Collaboration
Computerization
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Decision making
Ebola virus
Economic activity
Epidemics
Habits
Intelligence
Latency
Mobility
mobility data
Pandemics
Policy making
Privacy
Private sector
Public interest
Public sector
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Task forces
telco data
Telecommunications
Telefonica
Timing
Transformation
Tropical diseases
Vaccines
Viruses
Brazil
Argentina
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic is a global challenge for humanity, in which a large number of resources are invested to develop effective vaccines and treatments. At the same time, governments try to manage the spread of the disease while alleviating the strong impact derived from the slowdown in economic activity. Governments were forced to impose strict lockdown measures to tackle the pandemic. This significantly changed people’s mobility and habits, subsequently impacting the economy. In this context, the availability of tools to effectively monitor and quantify mobility was key for public institutions to decide which policies to implement and for how long. Telefonica has promoted different initiatives to offer governments mobility insights throughout many of the countries where it operates in Europe and Latin America. Mobility indicators with high spatial granularity and frequency of updates were successfully deployed in different formats. However, Telefonica faced many challenges (not only technical) to put these tools into service in a short timing: from reducing latency in insights to ensuring the security and privacy of information. In this article, we provide details on how Telefonica engaged with governments and other stakeholders in different countries as a response to the pandemic. We also cover the challenges faced and the shared learnings from Telefonica’s experience in those countries.
ISSN:2632-3249
2632-3249
DOI:10.1017/dap.2021.6