Tuesday, 19 March 2024
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Sustainability


The sense of responsibility towards sustainability at the economic, social and environmental level plays an important role in Timor Telecom strategic decision processes, as it is the Company's aim to continuously reinforce its practices and always maintain a strong focus on the creation of value to its shareholders, employees, clients, suppliers as well as to the general public.

Consequently, TT confers high importance to its social responsibility performance. Accuracy in the information delivered, transparency in the relations built with all the stakeholders and responsible behaviour represent the cornerstones of the company and are also important factors that have been increasingly taken in consideration in the decisions from clients, suppliers and investors. TT also assumes a compromise in creating value through a sound financial performance, without ever neglecting the preservation and respect for either the environment and the community it makes part of.



Policies and Principles



Code of Ethics


The values and norms which define TT's performance can be found in the Code of Ethics of the Company; it represents the fundamental basis of the relationship that the company maintains with the different publics it interacts with.

The Code of Ethics of Timor Telecom regulates the principles of action of the employees towards the organisation and the relationship they build with the shareholders, authorities, competitors, clients, suppliers, media and the general public. Honesty, loyalty, integrity, equality of opportunities, non-discrimination, professionalism, safety and welfare as well as social responsibility represent the core principles that the Company stands for, promoting them and complying with them in a daily basis.

Please read our Code of Ethics.



Charters and Principles


Timor Telecom upholds the development of a business culture that favours the support of the internationally acknowledged Human Rights, avoiding complicity in eventual situations where the former are violated.

TT supports the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact, which include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the United Nations Anti-Corruption Convention and the UN Millennium Development Goals adopted by its member state leaders in 2001.

This support is materialized through the policies and practices the company undertakes with its employees, suppliers and clients.



Social Responsibility Policy


TT has a strong commitment to the welfare of the present and future generations of Timor-Leste, promoting values such as social, educational and professional inclusion, respect for human and labour rights, respect for the communities within which it develops its activity and the promotion of knowledge, health, safety and environment. These values embody Timor Telecom's main guidelines towards sustainable development.



Human Resources Management


By committedly investing in the welfare of its employees and their families, TT wants to be a reference in what comes to the balance between personal and professional life, health, hygiene and safety at work, training, remuneration and social benefits offered to employees.

TT gives clear preference in recruiting Timorese human resources (about 95% of its staff has Timorese nationality), investing in highly qualified workers (more than 65% of the staff has higher level qualifications). Additionally, TT invests strongly in internal training for its workers, having already offered 100 thousand hours of training, both in-country and overseas.



Health and Safety at work


In terms of health and safety at work, TT is not merely concerned about complying with and applying the legislative measures, as due to the growing trend for outsourcing and the use of suppliers, TT finds it necessary to make sure that its associates also respect and fully comply with the health and safety conditions the company offers to its workers.

The inclusion of observation criteria for health and safety conditions at work has become a compulsory requirement in the awarding of contracts to suppliers and partners, as a means of fully certifying the delivery of all services within its value chain.

Enterprise social responsibility overcomes the sphere of the company itself; it extends to the local community, involving not only its workers and shareholders but also other interested parts as such: suppliers, clients, public authorities and NGOs working directly with the local communities.



Development of Information Society


TT supports Timorese journalism and media and promotes digital inclusion among citizens by disclosing and sharing contents from the Internet and promoting the use of the latter.

TT believes that people's access to the information is a vital and necessary condition for their participation in society. In a world increasingly globalized and dependent on information technologies, it is a main concern to offer the population the capacity to use those technologies in a conscious and critical way.

TT offers internet to several institutions and to maximize the access to the information society among the population, also offers a free wi-fi service in several public places in Dili (Timor Plaza Shopping Center, Largo de Lecidere, Airport).



Education


TT actively cooperates and establishes partnerships with several educational institutions in the country, namely Universities, to which TT offered PCs and free wi-fi, in order to all college community may access the internet, encouraging students’ content research, thus increasing digital information inclusion.



Portuguese Language


TT plays an important role in the reintroduction of the Portuguese language in Timor-Leste, which has been chosen, alongside Tetun, as the country's official language. TT has, therefore, not only adopted Portuguese as the working language as it also offers Portuguese language training to its employees. Documents, texts and all pieces of information delivered to staff and external public are always conveyed in Tetun and Portuguese.

Timor Telecom also gets involved in events that promote the Portuguese language, as the Timor-Leste Song Contest and the publishing and launching of books.



Decentralization and community support


TT promotes access to telecommunication services to low-income communities and/or those geographically disadvantaged, assuring that all citizens have access to a basic set of general interest services, regardless of its location and/or consumption profile. Therefore, the company invests, actively, in the geographic broadening of its mobile, landline and Internet services.

CCIs (Internet Communitarian Centres) are a good example of that. CCIs are equipped with PCs with free access to the Internet, accessible to everybody, and created in partnership with Religious Institutions, national entrepreneurs and with Timor-Leste National Youth Council. Currently there are 90 active CCIs



Patronage


TT allocates a part of its annual budget to sponsor community activities organised by other institutions. These sponsorships comprise:
  • Sports events: Timor Tour, 'City of Peace' Dili Marathon, Atauro/Com International Fishing Competition, Timor-Leste Football Federation;
  • Cultural events: conferences, launching of books from Timorese authors or on Timor-Leste related topics, scholarship programs and the Modern Music Festival;
  • Other projects related to health and the arts as well as social and humanitarian projects.


Voluntary work


The human resources of a company like TT have the potential to also take part in activities outside the company, as such taking part of voluntary actions on behalf of the society.

TT engages in the promotion of training programs to the community, which are organised by voluntary panels from the company and which comprise different areas of action, for instance, training on Internet and Informatics for primary schools, blood donation campaigns and community activities such as cleaning the streets of Dili.



Environmental Policy


TT is fully committed to the conservation and preservation of the environment. The constant search for solutions which minimize the impact of the company's activities in the society aims to continually promote the increase of the environmental quality in the future. Aware of its ecological footprint, TT tries to foresee the impacts of it and promote initiatives which can contribute to the maintenance of the balance between environment and society in general.



Infrastructures


In what comes to infrastructures, the company has made great effort to maximise the use of renewable energies, having significantly expanded the solar park in its sites, from 2010 to 2012. Furthermore, TT shows great concern with the integrity of its equipment in the landscape, namely by limiting the maximum height of its towers within cities and by reducing tree cut-down to a minimum within the construction perimeter of its sites as well as in the accesses to the sites and in the optic fibre routes.



Buildings


TT tries to monitor and to lessen expenses and consumptions by managing its energy, water and (administrative) supplies consumption. It is a major concern of the company to carry out regular assessment studies of the energetic efficiency and environmental performance of the company's activities and buildings, materialized, for instance, through the replacement of paper for a greater use of electronic means or through using intelligent lighting and air conditioning systems, reducing work travel or collecting and handling the waste produced (through paper recycling, dangerous computer and electronic equipment collection, etc.).



Market supply


TT adopts responsible consumption behaviours, by taking into account, when acquiring goods and equipment, if these involve any form of worker exploitation, as well as the environmental impact of the production and transport of those items, their durability and their energetic efficiency. On the other hand, it tries to give priority to local products whenever it is possible (such as to food, furniture, décor, etc.). Big trips are, thus, avoided and local production and commerce is favoured, which contributes both to the reduction of the environmental impact and to the economic development of the country.

Moreover, TT supports projects from the Government and the civil society which involve a better strategy for waste reuse and a higher environmental sustainability for the country.



Procurement Policy


TT procurement model complies with a set of strict ethical and professional criteria aiming at creating a trust-based relationship with the external parties, ensuring adjudications to suppliers occur according to coherent, transparent and equality-based criteria.

Timor Telecom Procurement Model centralizes the acquisition of goods and services for amounts higher than $50,000, allowing for the participation of multiple agents throughout the procurement process, which, although holding distinct responsibilities, share common goals.

In order to optimise the acquisition of goods and services in terms of price, quality and service, the procurement process is developed through a strategic management of procurement categories whereby the company reduces costs and creates value. This process implies that acquisition and negotiation are mediated by a third party outside the process, which has a comprehensive vision of the acquisition category being negotiated with a given supplier. There are acquisition negotiation areas for each line of products, in order to maximise cost negotiation competence.

These options allow the creation of competitive and distinguishing advantages among the Group's several companies.



Reporting improper practices


In line with the company's principle of transparent management and in order to quickly act towards the resolution of identified problems, Timor Telecom has an email address which any person can use to inform TT about anomalous situations or offenses, namely false or negligent acts or losses, which can be attributed to any agent direct or indirectly related to the company (clients, employees, suppliers or other partners) on subjects referring to accounts or auditing, which can negatively impact on the financial statements of the company or cause damages to its assets. TT ensures total confidentiality of the analysis and treatment of eventual claims. For reporting on any situation you may be aware of, please send through information on the case to the email address below:
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Sustainability Performance


Economic Sustainability


2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Profits $57.239.946,14 $66.382.498,33 $74.594.046,34 $62.228.786,70 $46.571.129
EBITDA $32.326.023,34 $36.992.374,31 $41.589.986,36 $30.772.377,45 $18.145.000
Net Profit $23.173.392,24 $24.689.026,70 $21.683.565,81 $8.122.446,68 $536.940
Taxes paid to the Government $6.243.937,74 $7.347.443,75 $8.326.716,49 $7.526.247,87 $3.677.414,27
Number of clients 476.019 605.447 632.054 627.497 629.306



Social Sustainability


EMPLOYEES
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Number of Employees 244 270 324 512 478
% Female 34% 35% 36% 40% 40%
Human Resources Expenses $2,960,497,17 $5,154,852,00 $6,530,379,00 $6.672.854,00 $6.221.882
Number of occupational accidents 0 3 1 0 0
Number of fatalities caused by occupational accidents 0 0 0 0 0



TRAINING
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Number of training hours 1,117 1,877 2,577 2.012 491
% hours of technical training 24% 87% 50% 30% 57%
% hours of behavioural training 26% 13% 23% 10% 3%
% hours of language training 50% - - 60% 40%
Training expenses $60,616,77 - $83,106,00 $120.548,00 $15.940,00