Vodafone
Letter from the Chief Executive
Last year, our Executive Committee approved a five-year CR strategy which sets clear priorities on ethics, stakeholder engagement, consistency, responsibility to customers, reuse and recycling, energy and climate change, and socio-economic value. [i]
Key events in the 2006 financial year - The CR agenda
Launched Vodafone Speaking Phone and Vodafone Simply to improve accessibility. [ii]
Stakeholder engagement
Our team developing social products consults widely with NGOs, government and experts in accessibility. During the 2006 financial year Vodafone addressed the Education of the Deaf Child conference in Maastrict, the E-Accessibility Conference in London, the Telecommunications Conformity Assessment and Market Surveillance Committee (TCAM) Working Group Meetings and held meetings with organisations including ONCE (the Spanish national association for the blind), the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB), the Royal National Institute of the Deaf (RNID), Nottingham Cochlear Implant Centre and the National Deaf Children's Society. [iii]
How we respond to material issues
Extending communications to people who currently cannot access them is part of our core business strategy as well as our corporate responsibility. [iv]
Vodafone's response to stakeholders: our most material issues - employees & social products
All our local operating companies share a common set of values and policies on equal opportunities and diversity, health and safety, fair compensation and other issues related to employment. We are focusing on managing change and improving development opportunities in response to feedback from our 2005 employee survey.
We are promoting inclusive design to improve accessibility for a wide range of customers. Our technology is also being piloted to facilitate micro-finance in less developed countries. [v]
Socio-economic potential of mobile
We also stimulate economic development by giving wider access to communications that in turn extend access to finance, markets, education and health services. [vi]
Using mobile technology to improve accessibility and efficiency of healthcare
In 1995 the number of people living with diabetes in the world was estimated to be 150 million. It is expected to reach 300 million by 2025.
A text message (SMS) support system that facilitates greater self-management and control was trialled among young people with type 1 diabetes.
The system, developed by the University of Dundee, improved users' long-term blood glucose levels by 10%. Other studies suggest that this level of reduction can potentially reduce complications of blindness by 76% and kidney disease by 50%.
Trials have shown that SMS reminders to patients lead to a 30-50% decline in missed hospital and doctors' appointments. This simple text system could save between £240 and £370 million per year in England alone. [vii]
Socially inclusive products
Vodafone and the National Confederation of Deaf People in Spain launched the Accessible BlackBerry® from Vodafone. This mobile service, based on 'push to talk' technology, allows deaf people to communicate in realtime through emails, text and the BlackBerry® messenger, enabling users to send and receive instant messages anytime, anywhere. Beneficial price plans for deaf customers include a 50% discount on BlackBerry® services, 100 free SMS text messages, a €9 monthly discount and no joining fee.
Accessibility is an issue for a broad demographic that increases with age (see box above). Vodafone's research suggests at least 9% of the EU adult population is excluded from using mobile phones. We regard addressing this as both a social and commercial challenge.
Our groundbreaking exclusion study in the 2005 financial year showed that at least 9% of the European population over 16 is excluded from the most basic mobile usage. This increases significantly with age, with conservative estimates suggesting that 20% of over 50s are excluded.
Accessibility is usually associated with disability, but in fact difficulty using certain products, including mobile phones, is much more widespread. Many people who would not be characterised as having a serious disability still have difficulty using the full functionality of a handset, handling mobile phones, pressing the necessary keys or reading what is on the screen. This difficulty is growing as phones become smaller and more complex, and leads to frustration. This can be addressed by adopting a more inclusive design. However, for those people with serious disabilities - including people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired, we need special products (such as the Vodafone Speaking Phone or hearing aids).
People who are deaf, for example, commonly use text messaging and handset vibrate alert to communicate. The potential to improve accessibility is not being fully realised because communications about these product features is frequently not effective. Consumers with accessibility requirements are often confused about which features and models best meet their needs. We are working with our local operating companies to provide clearer and more accessible product information.
We conducted an investigation of hearing aid compatibility with mobile phones. This concluded that some hearing aid users experience interference when using a mobile phone. The level of interference depends on the type of hearing aid and mobile phone being used. Our research shows that 3G handsets and 'flip' or 'clamshell' handsets generally lead to less interference.
The Vodafone Speaking Phone converts text messages and screen content into speech for blind and visually impaired customers. We have fully launched the Vodafone Speaking Phone in six markets and trialled it in one more. Launches are planned in two further markets and to date the product has achieved sales of approximately 8,000.
Our analysis shows that the key barrier to sales of the Vodafone Speaking Phone in current markets is product and pricing awareness. For example, it is not widely known that the Vodafone Speaking Phone software is free of charge to people who are visually impaired. We have allocated a budget to test new marketing ideas during the 2006 financial year to try to increase sales. [viii]
Our family of foundations
The Vodafone Romania Foundation is working with CRESC, a day centre for disabled children based in Sibiu County, central Romania.
The project aims to prevent children aged one to eight years with physical or learning disabilities from being isolated, institutionalised or abandoned. [ix]
Objectives and commitments
We said we would reduce the level of preventable exclusion by at least a third by 2010.
We have continued research into the causes of exclusion by extending our study to identify key features of Vodafone Simply that will significantly reduce the level of exclusion from mobile communications.
We also said we would introduce three significant products with features that reduce exclusion by 2008.
We have launched M-PESA; assessed the availability of handsets with accessibility features; assessed hearing aid compatibility with mobile phones; extended marketing of the Vodafone Speaking Phone. [x]
Sources
- [i] Vodafone CSR Report 2006, p.1
- [ii] Vodafone CSR Report 2006, p.2
- [iii] Vodafone CSR Report 2006, p.5
- [iv] Vodafone CSR Report 2006, p.6
- [v] Vodafone CSR Report 2006, p.7
- [vi] Vodafone CSR Report 2006, p.10
- [vii] Vodafone CSR Report 2006, p.11
- [viii] Vodafone CSR Report 2006, pp. 12&13
- [ix] Vodafone CSR Report 2006, p.33
- [x] Vodafone CSR Report 2006, pp.37&38