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German incumbent is clear there will be a market but is unclear on what it looks like and what a telco’s role will be.
Deutsche Telecom sees a role for telcos as trusted partners when it comes to the use of personal data; it just needs to work out exactly what that entails.
Exploring the personal data opportunity in relation to the EU’s forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Graham Thomas, marketing director at Deutsche Telekom UK, said that the framework would create an exciting opportunity for a data economy to be created.
"The GDPR provides a coherent framework for data protection and this will enable growth of a digital economy – this is where the opportunity is," he said during a panel session at Total Telecom Congress in London on Wednesday. "The GDPR gives consumers the ability to exchange personal data with services they use and question how, when and why it is used."
According to Thomas, that sort of marketplace doesn’t exist today because there is no exchange when it comes to personal data. However, with the GDPR, he said, the consumer will become the producer of data and they will control it.
"That’s the crucial thing – the consumer is in control," Thomas said "That’s what GDPR is about and that’s good for business as well, because informed consent yields better relationships with customers going forward and the innovative services that will come from this will create the change and create the marketplace."
Thomas went on to discuss the role of the operator in this marketplace, which he said will create new value chains and business models, setting out Deutsche Telekom’s vision, which sees operators as the "trusted companion in an ever-increasingly complex and digital world.
"The first step for us is around privacy; it is important that the GDPR is very much understood and supported by enterprises," said Thomas. "There is also a question about innovation and whether there is interest for operators to have role in that space."
When asked to elaborate by moderator Rimma Perelmuter, CEO of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), Thomas remained vague, labelling the issue of innovation in personal data services as an "interesting topic and an interesting space."
He added: "I think various players are involved and I think you have to look at that on an holistic level to see how that would come together. There’s a great opportunity there and as an industry we need to discuss this opportunity because not everything has yet been worked out."
However, one thing which is necessary for a personal data marketplace to be created, concluded Thomas, is more than just compliance.
"Compliance is needed but you have to create additional value on top of that,’ he said.
"The minute you get informed consent, the level of engagement between the enterprise and consumer is so much stronger and with that you get ease of use and the take-up of services and that will lead to a better market overall which is the aim of the GDPR; to make the economy easy to grow."
