Driving Governance & Risk
Regulatory & Political Risk
Driving Governance & Risk
REGULATORY AND POLITICAL RISK
The telecommunications, digital and fintech industries remain in a constant state of flux due to dynamic – and often disruptive – changes in technology. As a result, these sectors are often subject to heavy regulatory scrutiny as policymakers seek to govern issues such as anti-competition, consumer protection and inclusion in line with technological advances.
With the aim of ensuring continuous regulatory compliance and safeguarding full access to markets and opportunities across our business presence, we actively engage with policymakers and regulatory stakeholders while driving collaboration with fellow industry players. This enables us to champion mutually beneficial solutions that meet our needs and those of our stakeholders.
Read more about our response to Regulatory & Political Risk in our Sustainability and National Contribution Report 2022.
Managing Regulatory Risks
Our industry remains highly regulated, requiring us to comply to a broad range of telecom, digital and fintech legislation and regulations, including those that provide the legal basis of our core operating licenses, spectrum usage rights, subscriber registration rules and timely tariff approvals. Additionally, we are subject to sector-specific taxes, fees and levies imposed across the Group by relevant regulatory authorities. This is above and beyond non-sectoral specific taxes such as service taxes, excise duties and Value Added Tax (VAT). As we operate in multiple markets, these legislations and regulations are vastly different in each country. Furthermore, we have to contend with foreign investment policies, rules and practices which differ from country to country.
In recent years, we have seen an increased focus by some regulators on network and service quality issues while policymakers have tightened the regulatory environment surrounding digital services, especially in the context of personal data protection, misinformation and network security.
These regulations create uncertainties for our operations and may impair business returns and long-term growth prospects, in addition to limiting our flexibility to respond to market conditions, competition and new technologies.
Our Response:
We leverage a proactive approach to regulatory management, encompassing a regulatory strategy, a Stakeholder Engagement Model and a Regulatory Compliance Framework, with each component overseen by Group Regulatory Affairs. This approach enables us to monitor regulatory compliance at the Group and OpCo levels in a structured manner, ultimately empowering us to shape the national and regulatory landscape for more effective management of regulatory issues.
Mitigating Political Risks
To manage and maintain good relationships with a broader group of stakeholders, we adopt a neutral stance towards politics and foster healthy relations with the governments of the day. To further demonstrate our long-term commitment to our markets, we also contribute to each country’s wellbeing through various CSR programmes that contribute to socioeconomic development.
Our efforts in political risk mitigation have resulted in better monitoring processes of key political and geopolitical events as well as improvements in anticipating emerging risks.
Overall, all OpCos leverage on their local expertise, relations and knowledge to assess what is essentially a fluid environment with changing scenarios and potential outcomes. In ensuring business resilience amidst any instability, all OpCos are equipped with a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that shall be activated when a crisis is triggered.
For detailed information on our political risk landscape and our approach to managing political risks, please see page 114 of our Sustainability and National Contribution Report 2022.
