Safaricom 2023 Sustainable Business Report

81 OUR BUSINESS KPI SUMMARY OUR MATERIAL TOPICS PATHWAY TO A PURPOSE-LED TECHNOLOGY COMPANY OUR STAKEHOLDERS ISSUES FOR REGULATORS OUR HIGHLIGHTS PROVIDING INPUT ON EVOLVING REGULATION The Kenyan Government’s approach of inviting public comments and inputs on proposed amendments to regulation highlights the role of various stakeholders – citizens, businesses – in shaping regulations, thereby encouraging public ownership and collective responsibility towards these regulations. Safaricom welcomes the opportunity to participate. Regulations currently on our radar are set our below. The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry has proposed the Climate Change Amendment Bill 2023 which aims to provide a platform for engagement and participation in carbon markets. Carbon markets are mechanisms that enable public and private entities to transfer and transact emission reduction units, mitigation outcomes or offsets generated through carbon initiatives, programmes and projects. The Bill is still open for comment. The Finance Bill 2023 proposes several amendments including an increased turnover tax from 1% to 3%; a reduction of excise duty on telephone and internet data from 20% to 15%; withholding tax of 5% on payments made in relation to sales, promotions and marketing advertising and 15% on payments made in relation to digital content monetisation. The KS 2952-1:2022 Kenya Standard Accessibility — ICT products and services was launched in May 2022 by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) in partnership with inABLE. This is their first-ever standard targeted towards Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and it is aimed at ensuring that public and private sector digital products and services are accessible to PwDs and older persons disconnected from most e-government services and business-owned digital platforms. The standard provides guidance on functional accessibility requirements for both software and hardware as well as services covered and intended for use with web-based, non-web and hybrid technologies. The National Addressing System of Kenya (NASK) Bill 2023 seeks to promote the benefits of a national addressing framework to provide for standardised naming, numbering and allocation of address for all addressable objects such as streets, properties, parcels of land, buildings and water bodies in Kenya to facilitate identification and location. The proposed Kenya Information and Communication Act (KICA) Regulations Bill 2023 is discussed in the material topics section on page 40 of this report. In other developments, we continued to secure the necessary regulatory licences and approvals to facilitate provision of voice and data offers, as well as to provide regulatory advice and support for innovations like Bonga for Good. In line with our strategic pillar of ‘Achieving cost leadership’, we secured savings of over KSh 207 million by negotiating county fees. • Surpassing the QoS regulatory threshold by 15.38% to attain a score of 95.38%. • Zero regulatory fines or penalties or administrative actions. • 100% acquisition of EIA licences for 5G rollout. • Additional 20 existing base transceiver (BTS) sites upgraded to 5G. • Increasing local and global focus on environmental issues, particularly climate. REGULATORS