FOI reference: FOI-2026-3571
You asked
Around 2024, you purchased services from O2, specifically O2 motion.
A press release was published here.
O2 Motion sometimes supplies customers with data-collection units. If the department was a recipient of such equipment please state where data collection units were installed and the dates they were installed. This can be provided in excel or csv format.
If possible, please share any slide decks with the anonymised data from the contract.
Please state the cost of the contract(s).
If there was any other use of O2 motion in your department other than the mentioned case-study, please include this in your response, with costs broken down by financial year.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We purchased already anonymised and aggregated mobile network data from Virgin Media O2 (known as O2 Motion) in 2024. Personal identifiers were removed and information was aggregated before data were shared with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and no data-collection units or equipment were provided or used.
The data were procured for and continue to be explored for the purposes of generating more granular and frequent statistics on population, domestic travel, travel and tourism, and international migration. In May 2026, we published our Understanding towns in England and Wales, investigating socioeconomic trends: May 2026 article where O2 motion data were used to derive visitor-to-resident ratios.
The cost of the contract (including mid-contract addition) to the ONS was £1,402,401.84 across two years.
We are unable to disclose the data provided to us under the contract, as this was supplied by O2 for a fee. If we were to release this information to the public under FOI, we would undermine O2’s business model, as prospective buyers would no longer need to purchase the data from O2. This would prejudice their commercial interests. As such, the exemption found under s.43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applies.
This exemption is subject to a public interest test. While there is some public interest in transparency about the specific returns on public expenditure, there is a greater public interest in upholding the trust and agreements we have with our suppliers.
If we were to release this information, O2 and other companies would not sell us their data for fear that their business model would be compromised. This would significantly reduce the pool of information the ONS has to use to create statistics for the public good, so the statistical conclusions drawn about our society would be less informed. This would lead to a reduction in the quality of policy decisions based on those statistics, which in turn would be detrimental to the public. On balance, the public interest falls in favour of withholding this information.