Axiata

Axiata’s country-by-country reporting of taxes paid, employment and indirect impacts across its countries of operations is a leading disclosure practice. Axiata also demonstrates support for universal and inclusive access to digital technologies through several initiatives. These include providing support for programmes addressing digital inclusivity of women and girls and offering subsidised products specifically designed for people with disabilities.

Axiata supports digital skills development with programmes across all levels of digital skills. The Digital Literacy Programme, delivered by Axiata’s subsidiary Smart, is one of the leading programmes for basic digital skills development in Cambodia. Through its programmes for entrepreneurs and university students, Axiata has continued supporting the development of digital skills necessary across a wide range of industries. The company has also introduced new programmes during the COVID-19 pandemic, including a donation of 425 routers to support 121,000 students with online learning across Indonesia.

Axiata provides a clear description of how it manages cybersecurity throughout the group. It has a board-level committee that focuses on implementing cybersecurity and privacy initiatives across all operations. Its Group Security Operations Centre monitors cybersecurity in real time. Axiata also has a group privacy policy that applies to all subsidiaries and associated companies in which the group has a controlling stake or ownership.

Axiata contributes to tech innovation ecosystems through multiple initiatives. It has three venture capital funds investing across Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. Axiata runs several start-up incubator and entrepreneurship programmes, some of which focus on impact and start-ups founded by people from underrepresented groups. The company is also committed to reduce the environmental footprint of its operations.

Axiata operates several initiatives enabling inclusive access to digital technologies. However, it can disclose more information about its financial and in-kind contribution to as well as the beneficiaries of these initiatives. The company should also report the number of employees with disabilities and how it involves people with disabilities in its product design.

Given that Axiata operates programmes across all digital skills dimensions, it has an opportunity to provide more details about these programmes. Specifically, it can report on financial and in-kind contributions it makes towards these programmes and provide the number and gender breakdown of programme beneficiaries. The company can also conduct an impact assessment in order to assess the long-term sustainability of its programmes.

While Axiata clearly describes its approach to information security management and monitoring, it should also report the number of data breaches. The company can also provide evidence of international information management security certification and publish a transparency report detailing the number of government requests it receives per country of operation. There is no evidence of Axiata’s efforts for child online protection.

There is limited evidence of Axiata’s support for open source and standards projects, sharing code and data, or partnership with researchers on sustainability issues. Similarly, the company does not provide evidence of its efforts to diversify its technical workforce or to consider ethics in research activities.

Axiata has a grievance mechanism that is accessible to workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints. The company has a publicly available policy statement that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the ILO core labour rights. However, Axiata does not have a publicly available policy statement regarding its commitment to respect human rights and to respect the right of freedom of association and collective bargaining and prohibiting child labour and forced labour. Furthermore, the company does not disclose a process to identify, assess and take action on the salient human rights risks associated with its own operations and with its business relationships.

Axiata places health and safety expectations on its business relationships and monitors their performance. However, the company does not commit to respecting the health and safety of its own workers and does not disclose quantitative health and safety information. The company does not disclose a policy commitment stating that it does not require workers to work more than the regular and overtime hours. It is also not explicit whether the company expects its business relationships to do the same. Additionally, the company does not disclose the percentage of its workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements.
Axiata commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment, but it does not have time-bound targets on the subject. The company discloses the gender distribution of its overall workforce and leadership positions. However, it can improve its reporting on other indicators of diversity, such as age group, per employee category. Axiata provides no relevant evidence in relation to paying its workers a living wage.

Axiata has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, and it includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in contracts with its business relationships. Furthermore, the company takes steps to identify and address bribery and corruption and has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints. Axiata does not disclose a global tax strategy. It provides information on income taxes paid in its main markets but not in individual tax jurisdictions. The company does not disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement. Specifically, the company has no public statement that indicates it does not make political contributions, and it does not disclose its lobbying expenditures.

The below datasheet disaggregates scores within the three core social measurement areas and by specific indicators.