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Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel is an Indian telecommunications services company. Established in 1995, it has operations in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa (through subsidiary Airtel Africa). In March 2020, the company had more than 423 million customers, making it the second largest mobile service provider in the world. The company also has a global internet backbone covering 50 countries, with capacity in 30 submarine cables.

Summary

Despite being ranked third out of the six Indian companies included in the benchmark, Bharti Airtel lags behind other companies in digital inclusion. This is mainly due to the lack of evidence in areas covered by the benchmark. While the company follows best practice in one element of a measurement area, its disclosure lags in other areas. In access, for example, the company reports the distribution of its economic value but there is limited evidence regarding how it supports accessibility for people with disabilities. In skills, Bharti Airtel has initiatives in some areas but not others. In use, the company’s human rights policy demonstrates a high-level commitment to protecting children online, but no evidence was found regarding its cybersecurity practices. In innovation, Bharti Airtel demonstrates some support for open standards and collaboration but there is no evidence of support for start-ups or diversity. Bharti Airtel publishes an environmental, social and corporate governance report aligned with international standards but the latest dates to the 2017 financial year. Given that Bharti Airtel considers digital inclusion to be a significant issue, it could provide more timely and detailed information about how the company supports it.

Ranking position: #65 /100
Total score: 0.43 /2

Measurement area	Score (0-2)	Rank (0-100)
Access	0.36 /2	#64
Skills	0.56 /2	#42
Use	0.28 /2	#85
Innovation	0.53 /2	#72

Access: Bharti Airtel discloses some information relating to this area, including the number of employees with disabilities and how its economic value is distributed among its stakeholders.
Skills: Airtel Africa’s Internet for Schools programme provides free internet access to schools in six African countries, reaching over 400,000 students.
Use: In its human rights policy, Bharti Airtel commits to protecting minors from information distributed by the company.
Innovation: The company demonstrates a commitment to open standards through its membership of the International Telecommunication Union. It also collaborates with universities on research.

Access: Bharti Airtel reports the relevant elements for calculating its distribution of economic value as well as the number of its employees who have disabilities. However, no evidence could be found about its activities in making digital technologies widely available, accessible and inclusive for vulnerable groups. The company could better demonstrate how it supports universal access to digital technologies for underserved populations and digital opportunities for women and girls.
Skills: Bharti Airtel could provide additional information about its support of skills development, such as financial or in-kind contributions it makes towards its digital skills initiatives. Additionally, third-party evaluation of these programmes would help provide greater understanding of the impact they have on beneficiaries.
Use: Although Bharti Airtel includes a commitment to protect minors online in its human rights policy, it could demonstrate more clearly how it does this. Similarly, evidence of activities relating to cybersecurity management is lacking. Bharti Airtel’s privacy policy should also disclose more clearly how and with who it shares user information, as well as how users can access personal information the company holds about them.
Innovation: Apart from Bharti Airtel’s standards organisation membership and partnerships with universities on research projects, no other evidence could be found that the company supports open, inclusive and ethical innovation. The company should report on how it supports open source, open standards and the technology start-up ecosystem. It should also report how it supports diversity and ethics in research and development.

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2021
2023

More about the company

Headquarters: New Delhi, India
Ownership structure: Publicly listed
Fiscal year: Begins 1 April
Group revenue: US$12,431 million (FY2019)
Group employees: 19,405 (FY2019)
Website: http://www.airtel.com

Bharti Airtel

Leading practices

Access

Skills

Use

Innovation

Risks and opportunities