Telecom network operator Telenor India today shared its strategies to achieve sustainable growth.
“Sustainability in Telenor India is about extending the benefits of mobile communications to masses and ensuring responsible business practices,” said Sharad Mehrotra, CEO of Telenor India.
Human rights, enabling services, supply chain, safe internet, anti-corruption, climate and environment are the six focus areas for Telenor.
Out of its 49 million wireless subscribers, 10 million customers have enrolled for the free insurance cover offered by Telenor — ensuring financial security. Telenor insurance gives protection up to 100 times the value of recharge. It offers two months of free cover to all new customers, while the maximum cover is worth Rs 50,000 per connection for a month.
Telenor, as part of supporting the United Nations Global Goals for sustainable development, aims to connect 200 million customers to internet. Currently, Telenor India has 48.72 million subscribers and over 22 percent of them are data users.
TELENOR ACTION PLAN FOR SUSTAINABILITY
# Free life insurance to promote financial inclusion
# All women call centers in rural areas to strengthen women empowerment
# Energy efficient network to bring down power consumption by nearly 30%
# To expand Project Sampark in UP (West) to bridge gender gap in mobile usage
# Webwise program to make Internet safe for children
Through the recently announced network modernization project — in partnership with Huawei — across its 24,000 cellular sites, Telenor India is installing 25-30 percent energy efficient equipments. The new network will help Telenor contribute to the Group’s target of reducing the carbon intensity of its global operations with 40 percent by 2017, compared to the 2008 level.
To reduce its carbon footprint, Telenor India has piloted green branding in a few retail stores in select locations instead of flex and PVC which are not environment friendly. The retail network of Telenor India has 2,100 branded stores and over 380,000 points of sale.
Through Project Sampark, Telenor India has extended the benefits of mobile phones to over 40,000 customers in villages of Aligarh district in Uttar Pradesh. 50 percent of them are women. The telecom network operator will expand the Project Sampark in other zones of its UP (West) circles.
Telenor India has employed over 700 women employees across call centers. It has set up all women contact center in Jamshedpur, Solan and Ethakota which offers employment opportunities in the IT sector for financially challenged women from rural areas. These centers are being managed by Tata-BSS. Telenor also operates an outbound call centre from Patna called DIAL center.
Telenor has initiated the Webwise program to protect children from cyber harm. Webwise workshop in schools has educated over 20,000 students on safe Internet practices.
Image caption: Sharad Mehrotra, CEO of Telenor India, Najma Heptulla, Union Cabinet Minister – Minority Affairs, Nills Ragnar Kamsvag, Norwegian Ambassador and Pankaj Sharma
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
