BHARTI AIRTEL

INTRODUCTION

Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications company headquarteredin New Delhi, India .It operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa, and the Channel Islands. Airtel has GSM network in all the countries in which it operates providing 2G, 3G and 4G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. It had nearly 287 million customers across its operations at the end of December 2013.

Corporate Social Responsibility is embedded in and built upon the values of Bharti Airtel and the company is aware that it has an obligation to fulfill to society and the communities in which it operates, and help improve the quality of life for everyone, today and in the future.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVES WITH RESPECTTO PEOPLE

At Bharti, CSR is a way of life. Each department and employee strives to be sensitive to the stakeholders and environment within their work context. The company believes that its success depends on its ability to develop their employees’ knowledge, skills and experience and hence

ithasconsistently tried to create and promotean inclusive work environment for employees ofdiverse backgrounds to help enable them to realizetheir full potential.Initiatives like mentorshipprogrammes, talent acquisition, rewardprogrammes and other welfareprogrammes such as childcare services, flexiblework hour options and sabbaticals programmes have been taken by the company.

People policy•Employee engagement.•Talent development and performance management.•Rewards and recognition.

Employee engagementOpen and interactive channels of employee communication are consistently encouraged at Airtel.In 2012-13, Airtel used the employee engagement survey ‘Airpulse’ to measure dimensions like performance excellence, cultural environment and to identify employee expectations.

Talent development and performance managementTalent development is essential to handle the ever-changing requirements of themarket place and also to help realize the employees' professional potential. To achieve this objective Airtel has a well evolved OTR. Key features of the OTR include sharper talent segmentation using a competence framework, succession planning for critical leadership positions, focused approach to talent development and periodic talent councils.

Rewards and recognition

Airtel’s reward and recognition programmerecognizes and acknowledges employees for their exceptional performance. Its keyobjectives include driving and reinforcing Airtel’score values, highlighting stellar efforts andperformances, celebrating successes and drivingcross-functional and peer recognition.Airtel’s reward programmes and policies are periodically reviewed through various surveys andchanges made to adapt to a constantly changing business environment and rewards landscape.

Initiatives taken in India

1)Launched in 2006, the Satya Bharti School Programme aims at delivering free of cost, qualityeducation to underprivileged children in rural India with a focus on the girl child. The programmeattempts to enhance the learning levels of studentsby providing quality education with exposure especially to English, computers, life skills,communication and leadership. The objective is todevelop them into self-reliant individuals with adeep sense of social commitment.Presently 187 primary, 62 elementary and 5 senior secondary schools are operational.

2)Education and social inclusion through the Bharti Foundation

To help children become the leaders of tomorrow their holistic development is essential. In recognition of this, Airtel concentrates most of its sustainability / CSRefforts and employee volunteerism by actively supporting the education and social initiatives of theBharti Foundation.

4)Response to Disaster 

Bharti Airtel during Mumbai Floods: Bharti Airtel employees climbed up the towers to restore the networks so that our customers could conveniently reach its employees.Bharti Airtel’s response to Kashmir earthquake: Bharti Airtel’s ‘Rapid Response Team’ responded to the Kashmir earthquake by bringing more than 2000 food packets and water bottles to the affected area. Money, clothes, woolens and blankets were also collected from employees to distribute among earthquake victims. Bharti Airtel’s response to Tsunami Disaster: Built a mobile network in Andaman & Nicobar islands in less than 3 months to aid rapid rehabilitation of the islandDonated Rs. 1 Crore to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, in addition to contributions from employees  .Created 29 Airtel Crisis Communications centres in Tamil Nadu

GLOBAL INITIATIVES

1) Empowerment through education-

a) Airtel Sri Lanka through its MaduMahaVidyalayam, Mannar project distributes school books and accessories to talented students.

b) Airtel Bangladesh has an Access to Information (A2I) project with the Govt.of Bangladesh that aims to increase transparency, improve governance and reduce the time, cost and effort required to avail of government services in rural Bangladesh underprivileged children.

2) Airtel Adopted MillenniumVillages-

Airtel is in partnership with the Earth Institute, a non-profit organization, to provide connectivity to 8 villages named ‘Millennium Villages’ in 6 countries across Africa.

3) Making healthcare accessible in Ghana-

Airtel Ghana, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, has funded the construction of a purpose-built Clinical Teaching Facility and Diagnostic Centre for the School of Medical Sciences, University ofCape Coast. It is hoped that this centre will help to bring the benefits of medical sciences to more recipients.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVES WITH RESPECTTO PLANET

The current state of our planet necessitates intensive efforts at conservation. Telecommunication technology is important because it can provide opportunities that reduce planetary-life

threatening emission and waste .Airtel and its network-infrastructure partners continuously evaluate the impact of their business operations to minimize environmental fallout or degradation. Promoting reduced energy consumption, minimizing waste and focusing on developing innovative solutions that minimize negative environmental impact are some of the important steps taken by Airtel in this regard.

Caring for the planet

• Energy and climate change• Waste management and optimisation• Innovative initiatives to reduce carbon footprint

Energy and climate change

In order to address energy conservation and climate change issues, Airtel focuses on reducing the negative impact of infrastructure and takes equal priority to reduce the negative impact of the Airtel’s facilities and data centres.

Reducing negative impact of infrastructure

• In 2012-13, over 1,680 base stationswere converted from indoor to outdoor,eliminating the use of air-conditioners atthese site locations. This endeavor is overand above Bharti Airtel’s initiative to deploy 81% sites as outdoors.• Auto TRX shutdown feature has beensuccessfully installed at over 61,000Pan-network sites.• In 2013, Airtel successfully completed the installation of 25 biomass gasifiers,in order to replace DG at BTS sites, inRajasthan circle.• Airtel’s endeavors to build network with lowPower Consuming BTS has helped to reduce power consumption per BTS by 60% over the last five years.

Waste management and Optimization

Airtel’s effort is to minimize waste that is generated by its operations and to ensure end-to-end traceability and recycling of both physical waste and e-waste. They reduce the paper usage that results from physical copies of bills and receipts by promoting the use of e-bills and online payment methods. All e-waste is recycled as per Waste Electricaland Electronic Equipment (WEEE) norms.

Innovative initiatives to reducecarbon footprintAirtel’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and the depletion of essential natural resources are focused on converting physical services to tele/online services. Helping consumers transfer totele/online medicines, tele/online banking andonline/mobile education cuts down travel relatedcarbon emission and paper related deforestation. The journey is ongoing– on the anvil are various technologies like wind energy, biomass, zero emission batteries, etc.as well as the development of a sustainable community power programme in rural areas.

AIRTEL WINS IPR-GHANA AWARDS

Receives two separate awards for best Community, and Public Relations campaign

Airtel Ghana’s innovative approach to implementing its Corporate Social Responsibility  (CSR) initiatives received recognition when the company won  all two top awards in CSR at the maiden Public Relations Excellence Awards  Ceremony organized by the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana.   The first award - the Best Community Relation Programme of the year- recognized Airtel’s remarkably swift response to a newspaper publication on the plight of the teachers and pupils of the  Odumase Presbyterian Junior High School in the Lower ManyaKrobo Municipality  of the Eastern Region. 

  The company received the second award - Public Relations Campaign of the year- for its TV Reality Show, Touching Lives. Managing Director of Airtel Ghana, Philip Sowah, who received the award on behalf of the company said “Empowerment of the people and the development of our communities are central to our philosophies and we have not relented in our efforts in giving it a practical effect. Simultaneously receiving these awards in recognition of our effort is a positive feedback which can only empower us to do more”, adding “These are not one off activities, but a journey we are committed to undertaking for the benefit of the communities in which we operate”.   On his part, the Managing Director of Airtel Ghana, Philip Sowah, stated that Airtel’s association with the projects was a way of fulfilling one of the company’s core values of creating positive impact in the communities they operate in. He disclosed that to give more value and needed help to Ghanaians, Airtel Ghana had again launched the second edition of the ground breaking authentic reality Corporate Social Responsibility TV series “Airtel Touching Lives 2”, to change the lives of ordinary Ghanaians.

“This is in alignment with our vision of becoming the most loved brand in the daily lives of Ghanaians by 2015”, he added.

BHARTI FOUNDATION: SATYA BHARTI SCHOOL PROGRAM

Of the total enrolment at the Satya Bharti Schools as of September 2011, 48% of the students are girls. Contributing to the affirmative action agenda of the country, the program also caters to the marginalized sections with 76% of the students belong to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Communities and 48% of teachers belonging to the weaker strata of society.

Specially designed girl-child policy, separate toilet for girls, one female teacher in each shift and sensitization campaigns have been put in place to encourage parents to send their daughters to school.

The learning levels of students have shown significant improvement in 2010-11 with 92% children having scored in the top two brackets in learning levels, 80% students scoring in the top two brackets of holistic development and 50% children having scored above 70% marks (47% during Mid-term) in end-term exams.

Generation of Employment : The program has helped in generating employment opportunities in the villages where the schools are located:

Recruitment of local youth as teachers (some go on to become Head Teachers as well) for the Satya Bharti SchoolsHiring of locals as school maids (didis) The Mid-Day Meal vendors are community members, especially mothers of students in our schoolsLocal vegetable vendors, grocers etc., earn a large part of their sales through mid-day meal vendors for the Satya Bharti SchoolsLocal hotels also earn money through the trainings of trainers, teachers etc.Students excursions involve local travel agencies earning business through such tripsLocal event organizers, decorators etc. earn from the events at the schools such as sports days, inaugurations, annual events, national eventsLocal materials stationery, construction materials etc are also procured locally

Bharti Foundation has emerged as a role-model in ‘education for the underprivileged’. It believes in mutual sharing of best practices of quality education with organizations, educational institutions and the state governments to create replicable, scalable and sustainable education models.

Bharti Foundation, toward furtherance of its objectives – INR 105.82 million. Bharti Foundation (toward scholarship) – INR 0.97 million.

Our Analysis:As we see that the Satya Bharti schools have been successful in delivering education to poor and underprivileged. Some of these schools are suffering from problems of lack of teachers & students and careless attitude of teachers. These problems can be dealt easily by showing a little more concern to the existing policy.

Bharti Foundation CSR Analysis The most prominent features of the Bharti Foundation are :

I. Suitable Learning EnvironmentsII. Cost ConsciousnessIII. Separate Toilet Facilities for Girls and BoysIV. Availability of Basic AmenitiesV. Building As a Learning Aid (BALA)VI. Green Efforts

For holistic development of children they use Innovative Teaching Learning Material (TLM). It makes the teacher’s presentation easy, effective and attractive. Hence retention of concepts become easier. This has helped the students a great deal and has made studying a thoroughly enjoyable experience.The Co-curricular Activities promoted in the school are :1) Rang Tarang-Institutionalized in FY 2009-10 as a drawingcompetition,2) Bal Sabhas- Special assemblies conducted everythird Saturday3) House Activities- Students of each school have beengrouped into three houses - namely, Shakti (Strength),Shanti (Peace) and Vaibhav (Prosperity)4) Exhibition Weeks- The Exhibition Weeks, namely theEnglish, Mathematics, Environmental Science andLocal Language Weeks5) Sports Day- Sports Day is an annual event held across all Satya Bharti Schools6) Celebration of Important Days- Special days likeIndependence Day, Republic Day, Teacher’s Day andChildren’s Day7) Field Trips8) Participation in External Competitions: Students areencouraged to take part in external competitionsThese have led to the holistic development of the students.

Awards and Accolades:Pramerica Spirit of Community Awards 2012 – WinnersNational Honoree - Runners UpWon by Jyoti Yadav, a student of Class VII, Satya Bharti Government Upper PrimarySchool in Dabadwas, Rajasthan for a campaign Upholding the Rights of Widows in Society.

1. Monitoring Students’ LearningA. Internal AssessmentsB. External Assessments2. Monitoring Teaching Processes and Quality3. Monitoring School Performance

HOW ARE THEY SUSTAINING IT FINANCIALLYI. Financial Sustainabilitya. Bharti Group CompaniesThe program, set up with the initial endowmentsfrom promoters and associates, is geared towardsbuilding and sustaining the corpus to meet futurefund requirements. A large part of Bharti Foundation’scorpus and operational costs is currently met by theGroup Companies.b. Corporate Partnershipc. Individual PartnershipsMany individuals, who get to know about our programthrough media, the website or presentations in various forums, have come forward to support our schools withinthe context of their life. Individuals like Ms. KalpanaMorparia, Mr. Chapman Taylor, Mr. Oliver Harmaand. Partnerships with Governmente. Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM)

II. Employee Engagementa. ACTACT – A Caring Touch, is an employee payroll givingprogram of Bharti Group of Companies

b. Employee VolunteeringEmployee Volunteering Program, a part of the ACT initiative, encourages the Bharti Group employees to volunteer with a charity of their choice, contributing their skills and knowledge.

DISABILITY TO ABILITY

Not disabled – just differently abledOn 'World Disability Day', Rajasthan Circlehosted the largest ever painting competitionfor children. The competition was organised forspecial, slum and Thalassemic children.More than 6000 children from various schoolsparticipated and over 3000 village schoolsacross Rajasthan participated in the event.

Drops of hopeContinuing Bharti Airtel’s Blood Donation Drive across various circles, in 2012-13, Airtel Centre – Gurgaon,Airtel Business, NESA Circle, Karnataka Circle and UPU Circle, all organized blood donation camps.

Trees for lifeUnder the project Million Trees Gurgaon, Airtel Centre, in collaboration with ”I am Gurgaon,” pledged to plant 2,000 saplings in the bio-diversity park, Gurgaon. This drive saw the participation of over 200 employees.

CONNECT TO LEARN – Bharti Airtel contributes heavily and provides technology and communication support to CTL which is helping in following ways:

CTL scholarships in sub- Sahara Africa.Secondary school fees and other schooling costs covered by their multi-year Connect To Learn scholarshipsChange speechAs we continue to receive reports from the field we are reminded of the impact that education has on a person's life and its significance to these girls from rural communities in Africa who may not have been able to attend secondary school without these scholarships. We remember that these funds not only provide school uniforms that make them and their families proud and school fees, but also create dreams and encourage hope for a future life free from extreme poverty.

From the Amazon to Rio, Connectivity in Brazilian Schools through CTL

Connect To Learn Launches in the Arab World

Some 5,000 students now have access to quality education through partnership with telecommunication operator Bharti Airtel, throughout the Millennium Village sites in sub-Saharan Africa: in particular Ghana, Tanzania and Kenya where Connect To Learn is now active

AIRTEL AFRICAA commitment to the Society

Despite the company’s growing commercial success, Airtel remains focused on making a positive impact on the communities in which it operates. As part of this initiative, Airtel works with the respective Education Ministries in each country to identify schools in need of refurbishment and educational facilities in order to create a better learning environment for students. To date, the company has adopted 30 schools through its ‘Our School’ initiative across the continent, with plans to adopt up to 45 schools by April next year.

 Earlier this year, the company also kicked off its second season of the Airtel Rising Stars tournament – Africa’s largest grassroots football tournament that aims to nurture and develop local talent from a grassroots to a national level. The tournament is supported by world-renowned football clubs, Manchester United and Arsenal.

GENDER EQUALITY IN AFRICA

Airtel Africa partners with UN women

Airtel Africa signs MOU with UN WOMEN on initiatives to promote the empowerment of women and girls

Airtel will establish a Farmer’s Information System which will provide real time information to women farmers through its network in Africa

As per the MoU, UN Women will identify the farmers to be covered under this initiative, whilst Airtel will package and deliver the appropriate mobile solutions to support their livelihoods and enhance their efficiency.

Under the agreement, Airtel Africa will establish a Farmer's Information System, which will enable women farmers to access real time information related to weather, changes to the policy environment (such as taxation and regulation), available support services; as well as other areas. In addition, Airtel will also offer Internet protocol messaging services and closed user groups.

Mobile connectivity gives rural communities access to education, banking facilities and opportunities to increase trade. By connecting rural communities through its mobile networks, Airtel aims to create positive community impact, greater social interaction and opportunities for economic development.

Airtel believes that entrepreneurship and the development of the private sector are essential to achieving economic development and poverty eradication. Under this agreement, Airtel will also co-finance initiatives and projects promoting the empowerment of women and the girl child.

GOING GREEN

It has reduced the number of telecom sites running solely on diesel by more than 50% by overcoming the challenge of lack of grid connectivity through use of innovative models such as Hybrid Battery Bank. By 2013, the company aims to completely eradicate the constant use of diesel to power its network. This means no telecom site of the company will rely solely on diesel power 24 hours a day.

CHANGE TENSE : 105 solar sites have already been set up in Niger reducing the use of diesel generators from 24 hours a day to a meager 3 to 4 hours. In the short span of two years, the , the implementation of all key initiatives – increased grid connectivity, battery hybrid and solar/wind power - will mean that Bharti Airtel will be using 35% less diesel on average to power each site.

AIRTELs green data center in Mumbai

Green data centers, which are environment-friendly and energy-efficient, use the state-of-the-art BAS system that ensures the building facility climate is within a specified range.

Water based chiller systems were deployed to achieve maximum cooling efficiency yet reducing the energy consumption. Compartmentalization of hot and cold air reduces losses in HVAC and carbon reduction. It also uses air balancing tool and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in the data centers which help in optimizing the air flow in the data center..

Other than this, the latest technology (IGBT based) modular UPSs are also deployed at these data centers which create less power losses. All DG sets used at these locations comply with the regulations laid by the Central Pollution Control Board.

http://www.dqindia.com/dataquest/feature/191286/airtel-goes-green