Utilising Mobile Big Data and AI to Benefit Society

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the health and livelihoods of much of the global population. As of March 2021, there were nearly 125 million confirmed cases of the virus around the world and over 2.7 million deaths. With social and travel restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the virus, mobile connectivity has emerged as a lifeline, allowing many everyday activities to continue. Mobile networks also generate enormous amounts of data, often referred to as mobile big data (MBD), which can provide unique insights on population mobility patterns and socioeconomic indicators when aggregated, anonymised, analysed and combined with relevant data and information from other sources.

This report by the GSMA provides an overview of the application of MBD analytics in response to Covid-19 from a global perspective.