Ooredoo

Ooredoo’s Myanmar subsidiary provides members of vulnerable groups access to the internet through public libraries. It achieves this by giving librarians digital literacy training to enable them to help users. This subsidiary also partners with International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), a global development and education non-profit, to help girls in Myanmar develop digital skills. Further, Ooredoo discloses its employment in its markets of operation.

Ooredoo contributes to increasing digital literacy through its Beyond Access programme in Oman.

Ooredoo follows best practice by reporting the number of data breaches it experiences.

Ooredoo supports the tech start-up ecosystem through venture capital investments and through IntilaQ, the first innovation hub in Tunisia. The company also demonstrates support for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and uses them as a framework to set and measure progress on its own goals.

Ooredoo has an opportunity to provide more information about its digital access and digital inclusion programmes for girls, such as its financial and in-kind contributions and the number of participants. Little evidence was found about how the company supports digital access for users with disabilities. Further, the company could disclose how the economic value it generates is distributed among stakeholders as well as the taxes it pays in its markets of operation.

While Ooredoo has programmes supporting basic digital literacy, the information available on these programmes is limited and lacks metrics, such as the company’s financial and in-kind contributions and the number of participants. The company has an opportunity to enhance its reporting and support for programmes in digital skills development and school connectivity.

Limited evidence was found on the company’s processes for supporting safe, secure and trusted use of digital technologies. Overall, the company can better demonstrate senior-level responsibility for cybersecurity and disclose how it monitors security threats. Ooredoo reports having information security management certification but can follow best practice and publish a copy of the certificate. It can also consider developing a group privacy policy applicable to all its subsidiaries. Furthermore, Ooredoo does not disclose a high-level commitment to child online safety. No evidence was found of the company’s initiatives for protecting children online.

No evidence was found of the company’s initiatives supporting open-source projects and standards or sustainable development research. In relation to innovation for inclusivity and diversity, the company could disclose the number of its women employees engaged in tech roles. No evidence was found of how Ooredoo considers ethics in its research and development (R&D) activities.

Ooredoo has a grievance mechanism accessible to both workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints, but it provides no public policies or commitments related to respect for human rights. There is no public evidence of Ooredoo committing to respect the ILO core labour rights, nor does the company disclose a process to identify, assess and mitigate the salient human rights risks associated with its own operations and with its business relationships.

Ooredoo publicly commits to respecting worker health and safety and monitors the health and safety performance of its business relationships. However, the company does not disclose the percentage of its workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements and provides no relevant evidence in relation to paying its workers a living wage. Furthermore, it does not specify that it does not require workers to work more than regular and overtime hours. In relation to workforce diversity, while the company provides a breakdown of employees in different employee categories by gender, it does not disclose employee figures against any other indicators of diversity per employee category. The company publicly commits to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Ooredoo does not disclose a global tax strategy. Similarly, the company does not disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement. Specifically, the company has no public statement indicating that it does not make political contributions, and it does not disclose its lobbying expenditures. Ooredoo does, however, have a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its business relationship contracts and has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints on the topic. It can still disclose how it identifies bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations.