Supply Chain Sustainability
Maintaining control over the supply chain is fundamental to any responsible business operation, and Telenor Myanmar was no exemption. It was important for Telenor to build its network and operations in Myanmar following the same global standards as in all other markets.
To ensure the sustainability of its supply chain, Telenor Myanmar established structures and systems for compliance and control, and reported on findings on a regular basis – both internally and externally.
During 2014-2016 inspections, a significant number of non-compliances were detected at tower construction sites – termed “site-based major findings”. These non-compliances most notably included child or underage labour, workers working at height without full safety gear, and unsafe excavation, among others. With Telenor Myanmar’s continuous effort of raising awareness and on-site monitoring since 2014, site-based major findings had decreased till 2018 – and child labour to 0 findings.
In 2019 and beyond, Telenor’s Myanmar’s network build was complete, thus risks shifted to non-compliance in site access control, safety gear and equipment maintenance. In recognition of this, and the increasing focus on people safety, Telenor Myanmar revamped its risk assessment framework to substantially raise the priority of, and thus, the incidence of, such site-based major findings.
In 2020 to 2021, due to outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and political circumstances in Myanmar, Telenor Myanmar’s supply chain sustainability efforts focused mainly on risk based virtual inspections by collecting digital evidence of non-compliance.
Telenor Myanmar included these risks and main data from supplier monitoring including incidents in the annual Sustainability briefings.
