1. Marc Debusschere, Statistics Belgium
Value from mobile phone data A mutually beneficial partnership between a network operator and a statistical office
Marc Debusschere, Statistics Belgium
Ljubljana, 14 October 2016
Statbel.fgov.be

2. Overview
1. Context: the challenge of big data 2. A collaboration project 3. Some results 4. Emerging business model 5. Lessons learned

3. Context: the challenge of big data
Data explosion: big data
Immense increase in volume, velocity, variety (complexity)
‘Digital footprint’ of persons and ‘things’
Specifically: mobile phone data
Byproduct of operating mobile networks
Considerable investment needed to ‘prepare’ them
Owned by mobile network operators: private & profit-oriented!
Challenge: from data to information!
Official statistics: the ‘third data revolution’
surveys => administrative data => big data
Network operators: for network optimisation & high-value commercialisation

4. A collaboration project Statistics Belgium, Proximus, Eurostat, JRC
Objective
Jointly explore mobile phone data, focus on modest but concrete and quick results, with the ultimate aim of developing statistical and commercial use cases combining mobile phone and statistical data
Timing
Start December 2015, still ongoing
First results foreseen and delivered end of April 2016
F. De Meersman, G. Seynaeve, M. Debusschere, P. Lusyne, P. Dewitte, Y. Baeyens, A. Wirthmann, C. Demunter, F. Reis, H.I. Reuter (2016): Assessing the Quality of Mobile Phone Data as a Source of Statistics, Q2016 Conference paper (pdf download,
Several other papers published or in pipeline

5. A collaboration project (continued)
Step by step approach
Focus first on actual present population
Next:
resident population (via ‘usual place of residence’)
commuting, labour mobility, labour migration (adding ‘work place’)
tourism, migration, time use, … (adding ‘usual environment’), …
Innovative
Using network signals rather than CDRs: observations x 10 !
Combining mobile phone data and statistical datasets
No privacy issues (yet)
Aggregates
Coupled via geocoding

6. Some results
Belgium: population density per km² based on mobile phone data (left) and 2011 Census (right).

7. Some results (continued)
Cells identified as ‘work’, ‘residential’ or ‘commuting’ on a weekday, with mapping.

8. Some results (continued)
‘Work’, ‘residential’ and ‘commuting’ cells in the region Brussels-Leuven

9. Emerging business model cooperation network operators & official statistics
Mobile network operator
Owns data, has big data infrastructure, technical expertise
Needs exploitation for network optimisation and commercialising
Lacks additonal data and experience to turn data into information
Statistical institute
Has geocoded datasets, statistical & domain expertise
Wants statistics faster, cheaper, less burdensome, more detailed
Lacks (access to) data, metadata, knowledge, infrastructure
Complementary contributions and needs, non- competing goals
 Mutually advantageous collaboration!
The statistical system of Belgium is a very complex one. It is the result of decisions related to the evolution of the Belgian federal system and to the economic governance of the state.
A long history of political decisions made the system evolve from a monolithic block to a system which is decentralised functionally as well as regionally.
Functional decentralisation was implemented in 1994, when the federal government set up the National Accounts Institute.
Regional decentralisation is the result of a far-reaching reform of the State in the last decades, when the majority of the competences of the State were attributed to the regions. One aspect of it has to be stressed: In Belgium, federal law does not overrule regional law. Keep this in mind when we come to the legal context of the new statistical system. Up to this year however, official statistics were not regionalised. They remained a prerogative of the federal level. Notwithstanding, the regions have recently set up their own statistical institutions.

10. Emerging business model versus alternatives
Legal compulsion
No legal framework (yet)
Huge investment, not reasonable to impose
External integrator of mobile phone data
Not subject to statistical legislation and code of practice
Competitor for official statistics when directly serving users
Cannot integrate other statistical datasets for higher value
Buying mobile phone data
Against principle of data as public good
… and no money!
The statistical system of Belgium is a very complex one. It is the result of decisions related to the evolution of the Belgian federal system and to the economic governance of the state.
A long history of political decisions made the system evolve from a monolithic block to a system which is decentralised functionally as well as regionally.
Functional decentralisation was implemented in 1994, when the federal government set up the National Accounts Institute.
Regional decentralisation is the result of a far-reaching reform of the State in the last decades, when the majority of the competences of the State were attributed to the regions. One aspect of it has to be stressed: In Belgium, federal law does not overrule regional law. Keep this in mind when we come to the legal context of the new statistical system. Up to this year however, official statistics were not regionalised. They remained a prerogative of the federal level. Notwithstanding, the regions have recently set up their own statistical institutions.

11. Lessons learned: do’s and don’ts for official statistics …
Find the window of opportunity
Operator who has invested in data but not obsessed with selling only
Talk to the right people (if you have a choice …)
Business development/innovation rather than research, marketing, legal
Invest in geocoded datasets and data science
Convince operators of their value to them
Guarantee absolute confidentiality and build trust
Be attentive to legal issues, especially privacy
Find (international) partners
Start low-threshold quick-result exploration project

12. Questions? Comments?