2022 Sustainable Business Report

41 PARTNERING FOR GROWTH: TRANSFORMING LIVES | KPI SUMMARY OUR STAKEHOLDERS OUR BUSINESS OUR MATERIAL TOPICS OUR REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT OUR HIGHLIGHTS • Achieved a 98% approval rate of business tariffs, promotions, and product applications. • Secured 5G spectrum and an extension of the emergency Covid-19 spectrum to support post-pandemic recovery. • Attained 95% Quality of Service assessment, surpassing the regulatory measure of 80%. Increasing access to information and communications technology (SDG9) while ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns both within our own organisation and amongst our stakeholders (SDG12), are key factors in transforming lives. We collaborate with regulators (SDG16 and SDG17) to achieve this. AN EVOLVING REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT Our regulatory universe helps us to improve compliance monitoring. Our main regulator remains the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). In total we engage with ten regulatory bodie s (see page 79 of this report) i n a constantly shifting ecosystem as we expand our products and services to prepare for 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). Within this context, we are constantly looking for ways to strengthen our engagement with regulators to ensure the highest standards of transparency and protection of consumer rights. The Regulatory and Public Policy (RPP) team is a department within the Corporate Affairs division, comprising six streams: public policy and market, technical regulation and infrastructure business, government relations, competition, regulatory compliance and interconnect, together with international business. In the past year there were several key developments in the regulatory space. However, through proactive engagement, we maintained our mutually respectful, cordial relationship with regulators as we collaborated to connect people and facilitate online learning, remote work, e-commerce and financial services. We continued to file our quarterly compliance returns with the Communications Authority (CA). Our aim, in engaging with regulators on draft regulations, guidelines, and bills, is to ensure a positive outlook and favourable consideration of our products and services. Refer to the accompanying appendix for a view of some of our key sustainability reporting standards implemented to guide business and ecosystem operations in support of our strategy - "Accelerating new growth areas delivering superior customer experience in order to be a purpose led technology company by 2025”. COOPERATING WITH REGULATORS In a positive development, we were allocated 60MHz of spectrum in the 2600MHz band by the CA, which will be used for 5G. This heralds a new era for Safaricom as we prepare to roll out this technology for various use cases that will benefit our customers. We worked with the Central Bank of Kenya to implement merchant interoperability between the various mobile money networks in the country. This means that customers can now pay merchants regardless of which network to which they subscribe – a development which benefits both merchants and their customers and aligns with one of Safaricom’s strategic pillars of being a ‘financial services provider’.