Stakeholders

Stakeholders are individuals and organisations who may be influenced by our operations, products, and services. Likewise, their reciprocal actions can affect the implementation of our strategies and the fulfilment of our objectives. Our key stakeholders are our shareholders, customers, business partners, employees, and the society and environment in which we operate, Government authorities and industry regulators, and media and advocacy groups.

The execution of our operations, at both SLT and Mobitel, touches on the lives of all Sri Lankans in one way or another. Through the various engagement platforms that we have established, we seek to understand our stakeholders’ views, communicate effectively with them, and respond to their concerns. We identify and prioritise our key stakeholders to assure short-term and long-term successes for all invested parties. We do this through a comprehensive mapping strategy. This usually follows a detailed analysis of our operating environment and any related industry opportunities and threats.

Stakeholder engagement

We communicate clearly and consistently with our shareholders

While delivering shareholder returns is one of the foremost priorities of our Group, we also ensure clear, consistent dialogue with our shareholders. We value transparency and our shareholders are well-informed throughout the year through quarterly results, media releases, and rating reviews. The Annual General Meeting affords the opportunity for direct interaction with our shareholders, where they can review the past year’s performance and engage in discussions with the Management. Moreover, our Annual Report communicates clearly with our investors, business partners, and potential investors. We also encourage our investors to communicate with us through a designated email address.

We interact frequently with our customers

Our relationship with our customers is interdependent. In return for their loyalty we strive to serve them to the best of our ability. In the highly competitive telecommunication sector, the quality of the customer service will ensure customer loyalty and retention. We have established meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships with our customers and drawn them closer to our brand by engaging with them in a number of ways.

Through our numerous, island-wide customer touch points, our customers can directly communicate with us. We also engage with our customers through social media and our regularly updated website.

Traditional forms of engagement like newsletters, brochures, and mailers are also used. Quarterly or need-based customer satisfaction surveys and customer feedback are other forms of customer engagement. Further, we capture the Voice of the Customer (VOC) via Real time Customer Voice Surveys and take action on the customer pain points to strengthen a positive customer engagement.

We also regularly engage with our Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) customers through customer forums and visits, product awareness programmes, ICT workshops for SME business, newsletters, and other forms.

We have established meaningful relationships with our employees

Healthy, regular engagement between the Management and our dynamic, diverse workforce affects the overall performance as well as employee loyalty and retention. Therefore, we have made employee engagement of the highest priority.

There are annual performance assessment systems which facilitate transparent evaluation. There is also a regular employee satisfaction survey conducted to better serve our team. We recognise the achievements of our team through annual award ceremonies. There are local/foreign training programmes that are initiated based on career development and career progression needs. We also hold various cultural and religious events during the year.

Other methods of engagement included departmental meetings/briefings, involvement in community projects, and internal newsletters.

We engage proactively with the community, society, and environment

SLT has a long-standing commitment to responsible behaviour in everything we do since our businesses play an integral role in the daily lives of our customers. In order to build a sustainable business, we engage proactively with the community, society, and environment. Numerous community projects that are aimed at preserving the environment are carried out on a regular basis. There are also other events that are aimed at spreading awareness among the public about responsible corporate behaviour. We also utilise our website, social media, and media releases in our engagement.

We engage positively with Government regulatory bodies

Being recognised as the national ICT service provider, affiliated to the Government of Sri Lanka, we have an obligation to maintain exemplary compliance standards with the relevant laws, industry regulations, and business ethics.

Through various means of engagement like meetings with Treasury, TRCSL, BOI, Customs and other regulatory bodies, annual and quarterly reports, strategy and operational presentations, and customer forums, we ensure compliance to statutory requirements.

A more detailed version on SLT’s engagement with its stakeholders is available in SLT’s online report.

External initiatives

SLT is proud to be a member of numerous associations, as detailed below. Our employees regularly participate in activities conducted by these organisations:

National

• National Broadband Committee
• National Chamber of Commerce
• Next Generation Network Committee
• Government initiative of free Wi-Fi programme
• Online secondary school education (SchoolNet) programme
• Online university education programme (LEARN) programme
• eGovernment programme
• Sri Lanka Internet Society

International

• SEA-ME-WE connectivity consortium from its inception
• IPv6 Execution Committee
• Global Internet Exchange Network
• International PoP Community
• Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO)
• International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
• Fibre-to-the-Home Community
• Carrier Ethernet Forum
• Carrier Grade Wi-Fi Forum
• International Internet Society