Telia is enabling availability of services and data amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis
Digital solutions in healthcare, services for remote communications and aggregated data charting behavioral and movement patterns in public areas are vital to maintaining people’s safety during the Corona pandemic. Telia continues to support authorities and other organizations to limit the spread of the virus and to be able to take care of more people.
Recently, Telia and the Swedish Public Health Authority initiated a cooperation in which the authority uses Telia Crowd Insights, a service that analyzes anonymized and aggregated mobile network data.
This makes it possible to get a clear view of behaviors and patterns of movement in society – information that is in turn important in deciding on measures to curb the spread of the virus.
Similar collaborations have started in all countries where Telia operates. In Norway and Denmark, for example, authorities now also receive information from Telia Crowd Insights. In Estonia, Telia provides the Government and the country’s statistics authority with the same type of aggregated and anonymized mobile network data, and in Finland, the Finnish Government receives continuously updated information on movements between municipalities and regions in the country, from Telia’s service. In addition, Telia Company has published a paper on its position on the use of data to help fight Covid-19, which can be found here.
“With services such as Telia Crowd Insights we can contribute to the fight against the spread of the Corona virus, and we are of course glad and proud of that. We’re seeing how robust networks and reliable data are of great help to society in dealing with this situation, and we can now support authorities and other organizations in all our markets,” says Telia Company Acting President and CEO Christian Luiga.
Telia has also been able to contribute in healthcare, and several collaborations are underway to lessen the pressure on hospitals and healthcare centers. In several regions in Sweden, Telia has contributed to the opening of digital care centers and to delivering services for remote monitoring. In Estonia, Telia offers special IT support and advice to General Practitioners (GPs). The common goal is to make it easier to seek care, both now during the Corona pandemic and in the future.
Childcare and education are other areas severely affected by the Corona pandemic. In Lithuania, Telia supports school children with equipment to facilitate education from home, as schools are closed.
In Estonia, Telia collaborates with other operators to provide students who have had no broadband access or computers with the necessary equipment needed for home schooling. Telia in Estonia has also started broadcasting the program Interactive Classroom on Telia’s own TV channel Inspira. The program is aimed at students in grades 7-12 and is a collaboration between Telia and the Estonian school authority, among others.
Furthermore, when schools and other activities are closed, many children become particularly vulnerable. The number of calls from children to the Swedish support organization Bris – Children’s Rights in Society, have increased in recent weeks.
The organization has increased its opening hours and over the past two weeks its counselors have seen a 30-percent increase in contacts per week compared to the weeks before – both regarding Corona and other issues in the children’s lives. Therefore, Telia has donated SEK 3 million to upgrade the organization’s communication services and to finance the incoming calls, so that even more children can get help.
In all its markets, Telia has also offered services that support people in working from home and in staying in contact with loved ones. There are also several local initiatives to offer different kinds of support and relief in all the Telia countries.
“We will continue to do whatever we can to handle this situation. To uphold important societal functions, to enable good decision-making and to support children, the elderly and other particularly vulnerable groups is crucial, and here Telia has a big opportunity to help. We take that opportunity very seriously,” says Christian Luiga.
