Telefonica, the Spanish telco with fingers in many European and Latin American pies, is to sell the data it collects [3] from its customers to retailers. To do this, the firm has created a new agency, Telefonica Dynamic Insights, and is already hard at work developing its first product.

Smart Steps [4] is aimed, it says, at public sector and retail. The idea is to show organisations at what time teenagers (to use one example) visit a shop or market, so that they can be better targeted.

Any teens worried that this might mean their days of playing hooky from school are numbered can breathe a sigh of relief. The data, says Telefonica, will remain anonymous.