Kuala lumpur: Mobile network operators (MNOs) only submit aggregated statistical outputs to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) under the Mobile Phone Data (MPD) initiative, said Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching. She emphasized that all raw data remains entirely within the telecommunications companies' own systems.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Teo clarified that the data provided to MCMC is purely statistical and does not include any information that could identify individual users. For instance, the statistics might indicate "the number of mobile broadband subscriptions in the Bangi parliamentary constituency or in the Semenyih state constituency," without revealing the location or identity of any specific user.

Furthermore, Teo explained that the MPD initiative is leveraged in the tourism sector to generate statistics such as the number of visitors and domestic tourism trips. The initiative is not intended as a surveillance system and does not involve the collection or transfer of users' raw data.

Addressing concerns about privacy, Teo reassured that the MPD initiative does not involve any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and, therefore, does not fall under the definition of "personal data" as outlined in Section 4 of the Personal Data Protection Act 2010.

She elaborated on the options provided to MNOs at the early stage of MPD implementation. Under Option A, MNOs could process data within their secure environment and submit only aggregated statistical outputs to MCMC. Option B allowed MNOs lacking internal processing capabilities to submit de-identified data to MCMC for processing into aggregated outputs.

Teo concluded by stating that by the end of the first quarter of this year, all MNOs had transitioned fully to Option A, thereby eliminating the collection of de-identified data under the MPD initiative.