Footfall and catchment from mobile network data (4G/5G)
Mobile network data measures footfall and catchment across whole districts: how many people visit and which districts or neighbourhoods they travel from, per day and season. The input is anonymised, aggregated 4G/5G network data, with no app needed on anyone's phone. It covers wide outdoor areas beyond the reach of Wi-Fi and sensors, and it measures movement only as aggregate flows.
Operator-grade 4G/5G network data with wide-area reach, fully anonymous.
Trusted by
Main benefits
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Wide-area coverage
Measure flows across entire districts, streets and open outdoor spaces, beyond indoor venues and single doorways.
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Privacy-first
Based on anonymised, aggregated network data. No individuals are identified or tracked.
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Catchment & origin
Understand which districts and neighbourhoods visitors travel from, per day and season, as a basis for planning, siting and outdoor advertising.
How it works
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Source
The input is anonymised, aggregated mobile network data, with no app and no device-level tracking.
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Aggregate
Movement is measured as flows across large areas, never as individuals.
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Analyse
The statistical engine turns aggregated data into counts and catchment per day and season.
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Deliver
Metrics arrive through the same API and dashboards as every other Bumbee Labs method.
What data you get from cellular
Cellular is Bumbee Labs' wide-area method, built for scale outdoors. Typical metrics:
- Visitor count and flows across districts and corridors
- Origin / catchment where visitors travel from
- Peaks & lows and trends at city scale
For indoor behaviour, zone-level dwell and exact entrance counts, combine cellular with Wi-Fi and sensors. See the method-by-method grid.
On this page
What is footfall analysis from mobile network data?
Footfall analysis from mobile network data turns anonymised, aggregated signals from the mobile network into visitor statistics for physical places: footfall, flows and catchment. It also goes by mobile network analytics, cellular network analytics, telecom data and MNO (mobile network operator) data. Network-performance monitoring, which analyses how the network itself behaves, is a separate discipline. Footfall analysis answers how many people move through an area, where they travel from and how those patterns change over time, and the data says nothing about who those people are.
Where can mobile network data measure footfall that other methods can’t?
Mobile network data (4G/5G) shows how many people visit a whole city centre, a high street or the area around outdoor advertising, and where they came from. Questions at that scale go beyond a single building and need wide-area coverage. Because the data is anonymised and aggregated, the flows are measured privacy-first, at a scale Wi-Fi and sensors aren’t built for.
Where mobile network data fits best
- City centres & smart cities: measure footfall and catchment across a whole district.
- Outdoor / DOOH advertising: size the audience in the areas around outdoor surfaces.
- Transport corridors: see which districts a hub’s travellers come from.
What does catchment analysis from mobile network data show?
Catchment analysis built on anonymised, aggregated mobile network data works at district and neighbourhood scale. It shows which districts and neighbourhoods your visitors come from, per day and season, and this is where mobile network data has its clearest commercial value. The origin data supports site selection analysis, investment cases and outdoor advertising decisions. Planners and property teams see a location’s trade area measured from visitor origin instead of estimated from drive times. The same catchment data lowers the risk in expansion decisions, because candidate locations can be compared on measured visitor origin.
Does mobile network data replace Wi-Fi and sensors?
No. Wi-Fi and sensors work well inside and around a venue, but their coverage ends at its edges. Total flows along the streets, the areas that draw people and the places your visitors travel from are questions for a method that covers the wide outdoors, and mobile network data fills that gap. Because the data is anonymised and aggregated into GDPR-compliant footfall analytics, measuring at this scale is not surveillance.
Part of a hybrid
Mobile network data works with our other methods in a hybrid setup: it gives the wide view, while Wi-Fi and sensors give precision indoors and at the door. → See how the methods compare on the data deliverables page.
Measuring footfall in a town or city centre
Sensors and Wi-Fi zones cover individual venues and streets, but a town centre is bigger than any single measuring point. Mobile network data measures footfall across the whole centre at once: total visitors and the catchment the centre draws from. City-centre managers, BIDs and municipalities use that evidence to follow trends and evaluate events, and to support investment decisions.
Curious what this looks like for your venue?
Cellular vs other counting methods
Each method has its own strengths. Cellular covers the wide outdoors; bring in Wi-Fi and sensors where indoor detail or door-level precision matters.
| Capability | Wi-Fi | Camera & 3D | Cellular | LiDAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole-space coverage | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial |
| Exact in/out at a door | Partial | Yes | No | Yes |
| Real-time occupancy | Partial | Yes | No | Yes |
| Paths & flows between zones | Yes | Partial | No | Partial |
| Dwell time | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Catchment / origin | No | No | Yes | No |
| Uses your existing hardware | Yes | Partial | Yes | No |
| Built-in privacy protection | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Full
- Partial
- Not available
Approved and validated
City-scale measurement comes from Bumbee Labs, the company behind the only footfall method in Europe approved by a data protection authority. That method is validated by academia, partners and customers. The larger scale never comes at the expense of privacy.
Telia's partnership with Bumbee Labs is important for us to expand our business. It allows us to develop our use cases for location and movement insights to be even more granular. By combining our anonymized and aggregated mobile network data with Bumbee Labs solution of GDPR-safe Wi-Fi probe data, we ensure that the collection of data follows the strictest guidelines of GDPR compliance all the way.
Frequently asked questions
Where does mobile network data work best?
It works best across large outdoor areas such as city centres, districts and transport corridors, where covering everything with Wi-Fi or sensors is impractical. Use it for questions about visitor numbers and catchment, and combine it with Wi-Fi and sensors for detail inside a single building.
Is mobile network data used at an individual level?
No. The analysis measures flows from anonymised, aggregated network data, and the data is not used to identify or track individuals.
How does mobile network data relate to Wi-Fi and sensor methods?
Each one covers a different scale. Mobile network data gives the wide outdoor view and catchment, Wi-Fi shows whole-space behaviour indoors and outdoors, and sensors give exact counts at a single point. A hybrid setup uses each method where it is strongest.
What can I measure with mobile network data?
You get visitor counts across districts and corridors, origin and catchment by district or neighbourhood per day and season, and peaks, lows and trends at city scale. The data deliverables page lists the full metric set and which method delivers each metric.
What is the difference between mobile network data and GPS or app-panel data?
Mobile network data comes from the operator's own network. It is anonymised and aggregated before analysis, and no one needs an app on their phone. GPS and app-panel data come from apps installed on a sample of opted-in devices. Network data covers the broad base of devices on the network, and that breadth is what makes district-level footfall and catchment figures reliable.
Is footfall analysis from mobile network data GDPR-compliant?
The data is anonymised and aggregated before it reaches the analysis, and no individuals are identified or tracked. No app is needed on anyone's phone, and movement is measured only as flows across large areas. City-scale measurement comes from Bumbee Labs, the company behind the only footfall method in Europe approved by a data protection authority.
Where this fits
Part of
Industries and segments
Challenges
Methods
Data protection:GDPR-compliant vs approved