Riyadh, March 2022: stc Group, e& formerly known as Etisalat Group, Zain Group, Batelco, du, and Omantel signed an MOU at the Mobile World Congress 2022, aiming to accelerate and tighten cooperation to preserve and protect the environment and enhance climate change challenges as well as reduce the carbon footprint through operations. This memorandum comes within the cooperation of major telecom operators in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries to improve the ICT industry and activate their roles in facing environmental challenges, focusing on climate change and advancing the regional sustainability agenda.

The MOU aims to accelerate cooperation on climate change and highlight the importance of collaboration to preserve and protect the environment as well as to maintain a sustainable economy. The actions involved include a better understanding of the carbon footprint across operations. The memorandum also seeks to strengthen work across strategic partners and policy makers around necessary measures that contribute to avoiding the climate crisis and achieving sustainable growth.

"This memorandum is an extension of KSA’s vision in strengthening partnership between all sectors to preserve and sustain the economic, social and environmental resources achieved by the Gulf Countries for future generations” said Abdullah Abdulrahman Alkanhl, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer.

"As a leading national company, stc has sensed this importance for a long time, and launched programs for sustainability and preservation of the environment. One of the most important results of which was a decrease in paper consumption to 50%, and a reduction in water use by 40%. Today we will work according to this memorandum to transfer these experiences to our partners in the sector from the companies of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries”, added Alkanhl.

Salem Al-Mannai, Vice President of Technology Infrastructure and in charge of the climate change file at e&, said: “Through this memorandum, the group seeks to strengthen its partnerships to confront climate change and make all possible efforts to motivate other sectors to join these endeavors aimed at accelerating the achievement of carbon neutrality in the possible time frame in addition to our commitment to the GSMA initiative; to move the entire mobile industry to carbon neutral by 2050.”

"The group also seeks, through this memorandum, to exchange experiences and best practices with regional counterparts regarding the pioneering role of the technology sector, which would become a major enabler to limit climate change", Al-Mannai added.

“Jennifer Suleiman, Zain Group Chief Sustainability Officer, said: “Climate change and reducing our carbon footprint are material to Zain's strategic objectives across our markets. This collaboration between like-minded operators is a transformative step towards advancing sustainability across the GCC and is in line with our sustainability ambition of providing meaningful connectivity leading to systemic change.”

Commenting on this cooperation, Shaikh Bader bin Rashid Al Khalifa, General Manager Corporate Communications and Sustainability at Batelco, said: “Batelco attaches great importance to environmental sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint. We have started implementing initiatives in line with the company’s aims of becoming an environmentally friendly entity and achieve our corporate sustainability goals. Batelco’s most notable accomplishment is the launch of Batelco Solar Park, which contributes to the production of clean and renewable energy to support with running the company’s operations. We are eager to continue with our environmental initiatives to help create a more sustainable future.”

Saleem AlBlooshi, Chief Technology Officer, du said: “We, at du, recognize the crucial role played by ICT in strengthening the digital economy and ensuring long-term sustainable growth in the GCC region. We have put in place sustainability objectives that aim to guide us towards achieving our vision in alignment with the region’s leadership vision. As forerunners in digital innovation along with our strategic partners, we are committed to work towards a truly sustainable future with and for our stakeholders.”

Eng. Said Al Ajmi, Vice President Operations, of Omantel, said: “At Omantel, we have great concern towards sustainability, and our focus includes three main pillars: the economic pillar, the social pillar, in addition to the environmental pillar. We are proud to be one of the first telecommunication companies in the region to issue a sustainability report covering performance in all these aspects, as we issued our first report in 2012, in addition, we launched several initiatives aimed at reducing our impact on the environment by building on the digital transformation and automation and benefiting from it, in developing and transforming our procedures and processes.”

"We are pleased to sign this agreement with stc and the other Gulf telecom companies to exchange knowledge and experiences, emphasizing our quest to preserve the environment and play the expected role in combating climate change and reducing the carbon footprint of our operations", Al Ajmi concluded.

About stc Group

stc is a pioneer digital champion, always been focused on innovation and evolution of digital solutions to enrich it customers’ digital experience. stc offers a variety of ICT solutions and digital services in different categories, taking the lead in the digital transformation nationally and regionally. stc focuses on implementing initiatives along with seizing current and future opportunities to promote sustainability, innovation and people empowerment.

About e&

e& is one of the world’s leading technology and investment conglomerates. With consolidated net revenue at AED 53.3 billion and consolidated net profit of AED 9.3 billion for 2021, its high credit ratings reflect the company’s strong balance sheet and proven long-term performance.

Founded in Abu Dhabi more than four decades ago as the UAE’s first telecommunications company, the Group now operates in 16 countries across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

e& provides innovative digital solutions, smart connectivity and next-generation technologies to a variety of customer segments through its four business pillars: Telecom, e& life, e& enterprise and e& capital.

About Zain Group: 

Zain is a leading telecommunications operator across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to over 48.9 million active customers as of December 31, 2021. With a commercial presence in 7 countries, Zain operates in: Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and South Sudan. In Morocco, Zain has a 15.5% stake in ‘INWI’, through a joint venture. Zain is listed on Boursa Kuwait (stock ticker: ZAIN). We recommend the Investor Community download the “Zain Group Investor Relations” Mobile App. For more information please email info@zain.com  or visit: www.zain.com; www.facebook.com/zain; www.twitter.com/zain; www.youtube.com/zain; www.instagram.com/zaingroup; www.linkedin.com/company/zain