Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom has partnered on several competitions in Germany aimed at women students, covering advanced technical areas such as AI. The company is a leader in making products accessible for users with disabilities, soliciting feedback from them on products in development and providing special purchase prices for them. The company reports the number of its employees with disabilities and is a founder of a workplace diversity initiative. Deutsche Telekom discloses how the economic value it creates is distributed among stakeholders, including tax contributions at the country level.

The company has supported all 34,000 general and vocational schools throughout Germany with free internet access since 2000. It also has an initiative that distributes minicomputers to German elementary schools. Deutsche Telekom increases the level of media literacy across its operating markets through programmes that promote safe and competent media use.

Deutsche Telekom stands out as a leader in the use measurement area. It is one of just a few companies to mention data security in its business codes, specifically in its code of conduct. The company is also transparent about the governance and management of cybersecurity at the group level. It has a group-wide computer emergency response team, and it reports data breaches in detail each month. Finally, its privacy policy follows many best practices, and it discloses government requests for user information for each principal subsidiary.

Deutsche Telekom is inclusive and ethical in its research and development (R&D) initiatives, evidenced by its research partnership with Technische Universität Berlin, the R&D centres it operates in countries outside Germany and creation of ethical guidelines for its AI research. The company also solicits feedback from external stakeholders to further develop its ethical principles.

Deutsche Telekom sponsors competitions for women on advanced digital subjects. To achieve greater impact in this area, it could participate more widely in initiatives for digital inclusivity for women and girls. While Deutsche Telekom reports on the economic value it creates and distributes in aggregate, it should disclose how this value is distributed among stakeholders in its key markets.

Deutsche Telekom has an opportunity to undertake projects related to intermediate digital skills development, to widen its impact in the skills measurement area. The company could report additional metrics on its programmes supporting basic and technical skills development, and school connectivity. It could also better demonstrate how these programmes impact vulnerable populations.

To strengthen its commitment to online safety for children, the company could include this subject in its business codes and other corporate documents, similar to how data security is mentioned in its code of conduct.

Deutsche Telekom could improve transparency in its efforts to increase diversity by reporting the number of women working in technical, engineering and R&D roles. As a leader in many innovation areas and a member of many industry associations, there are opportunities for Deutsche Telekom to share its learnings with its peers.