Telenor talks Shared Value at MWC

Targeting primarily government officials, the Telenor Group’s Government Seminar has come to play an important part of Telenor’s programme during the Mobile World Congress. One of the topics this year was on creating shared value through mobile. Business is a powerful force in any society. It is essential for any company to maximise the benefits it delivers, while also mitigating the negatives. In Telenor we address these responsibilities through our pursuit of Shared Value.

Increased expectations to business

“Shared value is at the heart of Telenor Group’s sustainability work. Our job is to focus on what we are good at – providing communications. However, while we aim to create value for Telenor Group we also strive to ensure important benefits for wider society. We have to look at both the positive and negative effects of our business,” said Mai Oldgard.

Corporate ethics and issues relating to the way businesses contribute to society are higher on the agenda than ever. The global financial crisis, Hurricane Sandy, and the Arab Spring, for example, have pushed issues like tax, climate and human rights to the forefront. Business is a powerful player in creating sustainable responses to each of these.

Telecoms can make a difference

At Telenor we experience this international focus in the form of more stringent requirements from governments and international institutions. At the same time telecommunications is a unique tool that can contribute positively in the markets in which we operate.

“Take human rights, where international awareness and expectations for business have developed significantly over the last few years. As a company we continually seek to understand human rights risks related to our business. At Telenor we have recently developed our own set of human rights principles,” Mai explained. “At the same time the mobile can support the realisation and enjoyment of rights, such as access to healthcare.”

“If we take Serbia as our example, we see that the Roma minority there often do not seek professional medical help, and if they do they often meet challenges because they are not officially registered with the authorities. In a partnership between the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and Telenor Serbia mobile technology has enabled almost 130,000 Roma to be registered,” Oldgard continued.

Another way that Telenor works to create Shared Value was in form of cooperation with the city of Oslo. Last year the city started using mobile technology to control its 80,000 street lights in an effort to be more energy efficient. The move can potentially result in an energy savings of 30 to 50 per cent for the municipality, which means less cost as well as lower emissions. “This is a good example of how mobile technology can be climate friendly,” said Oldgard.