Riyadh, March 2022: stc Group, e& formerly known as
Etisalat Group, Zain Group, Batelco, du, and Omantel signed an MOU at the
Mobile World Congress 2022, aiming to accelerate and tighten cooperation to preserve
and protect the environment and enhance climate change challenges as well as reduce
the carbon footprint through operations. This memorandum comes within the
cooperation of major telecom operators in the Gulf Cooperation Council
Countries to improve the ICT industry and activate their roles in facing
environmental challenges, focusing on climate change and advancing the regional
sustainability agenda.
The MOU aims to accelerate cooperation on climate change and
highlight the importance of collaboration to preserve and protect the
environment as well as to maintain a sustainable economy. The actions involved
include a better understanding of the carbon footprint across operations. The
memorandum also seeks to strengthen work across strategic partners and policy
makers around necessary measures that contribute to avoiding the climate crisis
and achieving sustainable growth.
"This memorandum is an extension of KSA’s vision in
strengthening partnership between all sectors to preserve and sustain the
economic, social and environmental resources achieved by the Gulf Countries for
future generations” said Abdullah Abdulrahman Alkanhl, Chief Corporate Affairs
Officer.
"As a leading national company, stc has sensed this importance for a
long time, and launched programs for sustainability and preservation of the
environment. One of the most important results of which was a decrease in paper
consumption to 50%, and a reduction in water use by 40%. Today we will work
according to this memorandum to transfer these experiences to our partners in
the sector from the companies of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries”, added
Alkanhl.
Salem
Al-Mannai, Vice President of Technology Infrastructure and in charge of the
climate change file at e&, said: “Through this memorandum, the group seeks
to strengthen its partnerships to confront climate change and make all possible
efforts to motivate other sectors to join these endeavors aimed at accelerating
the achievement of carbon neutrality in the possible time frame in addition to
our commitment to the GSMA initiative; to move the entire mobile industry to
carbon neutral by 2050.”
"The
group also seeks, through this memorandum, to exchange experiences and best
practices with regional counterparts regarding the pioneering role of the
technology sector, which would become a major enabler to limit climate
change", Al-Mannai added.
“Jennifer Suleiman, Zain Group Chief Sustainability
Officer, said: “Climate change and reducing our carbon footprint are material
to Zain's strategic objectives across our markets. This collaboration between
like-minded operators is a transformative step towards advancing sustainability
across the GCC and is in line with our sustainability ambition of providing
meaningful connectivity leading to systemic change.”
Commenting on
this cooperation, Shaikh Bader bin Rashid Al Khalifa, General Manager Corporate
Communications and Sustainability at Batelco, said: “Batelco attaches great
importance to environmental sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint.
We have started implementing initiatives in line with the company’s aims of becoming an environmentally friendly entity and
achieve our corporate sustainability goals. Batelco’s most notable
accomplishment is the launch of Batelco Solar Park, which contributes to the
production of clean and renewable energy to support with running the company’s
operations. We are eager to continue with our environmental initiatives to help create a more sustainable future.”
Saleem AlBlooshi, Chief Technology Officer, du
said: “We, at du, recognize the crucial role played by ICT in strengthening the
digital economy and ensuring long-term sustainable growth in the GCC region. We
have put in place sustainability objectives that aim to guide us towards
achieving our vision in alignment with the region’s leadership vision. As
forerunners in digital innovation along with our strategic partners, we are
committed to work towards a truly sustainable future with and for our
stakeholders.”
Eng. Said Al Ajmi, Vice President Operations, of
Omantel, said: “At Omantel, we have great concern towards sustainability, and
our focus includes three main pillars: the economic pillar, the social pillar,
in addition to the environmental pillar. We are proud to be one of the first
telecommunication companies in the region to issue a sustainability report
covering performance in all these aspects, as we issued our first report in
2012, in addition, we launched several initiatives aimed at reducing our impact
on the environment by building on the digital transformation and automation and
benefiting from it, in developing and transforming our procedures and
processes.”
"We
are pleased to sign this agreement with stc and the other Gulf telecom
companies to exchange knowledge and experiences, emphasizing our quest to
preserve the environment and play the expected role in combating climate change
and reducing the carbon footprint of our operations", Al Ajmi concluded.
About stc Group
stc is a pioneer digital champion, always been focused on innovation and
evolution of digital solutions to enrich it
customers’ digital experience. stc offers a variety of ICT solutions and
digital services in different categories, taking the lead in the digital
transformation nationally and regionally. stc
focuses on implementing initiatives along with seizing current and future
opportunities to promote sustainability, innovation and people empowerment.
About e&
e& is one of the world’s leading
technology and investment conglomerates. With consolidated net revenue at AED
53.3 billion and consolidated net profit of AED 9.3 billion for 2021, its high
credit ratings reflect the company’s strong balance sheet and proven long-term
performance.
Founded in Abu Dhabi more than four
decades ago as the UAE’s first telecommunications company, the Group now
operates in 16 countries across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
e& provides innovative digital
solutions, smart connectivity and next-generation technologies to a variety of
customer segments through its four business pillars: Telecom, e& life,
e& enterprise and e& capital.
About Zain Group:
Zain is a leading telecommunications operator across
the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to over
48.9 million active customers as of December 31, 2021. With a commercial
presence in 7 countries, Zain operates in: Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi
Arabia, Sudan and South Sudan. In Morocco, Zain has a 15.5% stake in ‘INWI’,
through a joint venture. Zain is listed on Boursa Kuwait (stock ticker: ZAIN).
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