Sustainable Value Creation

Singtel Group is committed to upholding the highest standards of business conduct, as highlighted by our two core values – Operate with Integrity and Make Customers First. We continuously enhance our efforts around corporate governance, ethics and compliance, in our bid to step up our stewardship role and strengthen the relationship with our stakeholders and their trust in us. We encourage our people to incorporate the Group’s core values into processes and decision making by operating responsibly, ethically and with integrity in everything they do.

Our commitment to responsible and ethical business practices as well as good corporate citizenship while providing quality services and solutions forms the bedrock of how we operate our business. This is supported by a comprehensive framework covering strong leadership and corporate culture, robust and effective internal controls and policies, and risk management. Internal Audit, Group Risk Management, Legal and Group People and Sustainability work closely with our business units to continuously uplift our corporate governance, raise awareness and train our people.

Anti-bribery and corruption

We recognise that our success is built on a foundation of integrity and ethical behaviour, and we are committed to conducting our business in a transparent and accountable manner.

The Singtel Group takes a zero tolerance approach to all forms of fraud, bribery, corruption and unethical behaviour. We have robust internal controls and good corporate governance across the Group to mitigate bribery, corruption and fraud risks. Our employees, contractors and business partners are expected to comply with our policies.

The Singtel Group’s Anti-Bribery and Corruption (ABC) Policy, along with the Singtel Group’s Code of Conduct, requires Singtel Board members, management, employees and third parties representing or working with us, including suppliers, contractors and business partners, to uphold the highest standards of business integrity aligned with our values and expectations. These are supplemented by internal policies, guidelines and processes in key areas such as gifts and hospitality, donations, sponsorships, investigations and whistleblowing.

The Risk Management Committee is kept informed and reviews our policies and procedures regularly. This includes periodic updates to our ABC compliance programme, which is designed to prevent, detect and respond to ABC risks.

We recognise the role of Singtel Group in safeguarding our employees, operations and assets, and the importance of speaking up against suspected misconduct and criminal acts. Our whistleblower programme offers secure channels for employees and stakeholders to report concerns about potential fraud, corruption or unethical conduct. The Singtel Group Whistleblower Policy provides comprehensive guidelines and protections for reporting misconduct and ensures the safety of individuals who come forward.

Our independently operated whistleblower hotlines in Singapore and Australia offer a platform for both internal and external parties to report concerns based on reasonable suspicion of potential misconduct by employees, suppliers or third parties associated with the Singtel Group. Our commitment to maintaining the confidentiality of the discloser, including their identity, encourages individuals to speak up without fear of retaliation.

Fair and ethical marketing

We recognise the importance of marketing and advertising our products and services responsibly. Singtel Group is committed to fair marketing practices by being clear and transparent in the way we communicate with customers. This is highlighted by the marketing code under our Code of Conduct, which specifically outlines the requirements that we and our representatives must follow to ensure that all activities comply with various laws and guidelines such as the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice, Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and the Australian Consumer Law.

Responsible tax management

We recognise the vital role that our tax contributions play in supporting public funding and uplifting communities. Therefore, we are committed to maintaining good standards of tax governance and compliance with applicable tax laws in the countries where we operate.

The Board is responsible for risk governance and assisted by the Audit Committee in the oversight of tax matters. Our Tax Risk Management Framework formalises our risk appetite and governance structure for managing tax risks. The framework also sets a coordinated approach in the identification, management and mitigation of potential tax risks while promoting responsible tax management.

For more information, please refer to our Responsible Tax Management Statement here.

We deliver positive human rights impact through our reliable and high quality network and services for our customers, enabling them with access to information and essential services, as well as free expression through online platforms and social networks but not putting anyone at risk. We also recognise that any service disruption could adversely affect our customers’ daily lives, both personal and professional, well-being and business operations, especially those heavily reliant on our telecommunication and connectivity services. Business continuity is critical hence we mitigate network service disruption risks with measures to enhance our network resilience.

5G can transform industries with its higher data bandwidth and lower latency. Our 5G network has revolutionised customer experience and accelerated business transformation with higher data bandwidth and lower latency. In Singapore, Singtel was the first globally to achieve nationwide 5G coverage, including indoors and underground train systems. Our standalone 5G networks have been recognised as the fastest in Singapore and Australia by Ookla and OpenSignal respectively.

Customer health and safety

We view any potential risk to the health and safety of our customers very seriously. It is perceived that the telecommunications industry might pose a risk to the health and safety of people due to the emission of Electromagnetic Energy (EME) from mobile devices, base stations and tower infrastructure. This is despite the absence of conclusive evidence on adverse health effects caused by mobile phone usage.

In Singapore, the Radiation Protection & Nuclear Science Department (RPNSD), an office of the National Environment Agency (NEA), is responsible for all matters relating to EME exposure. According to RPNSD, the levels of mobile phone radiation permitted in Singapore complies with the WHO’s recommended International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) standards and that radiation exposure from base stations is far lower than that from mobile phones. The ICNIRP Standards are adopted by many countries around the world and are considered best practice. Additional information from the National Environment Agency can be found here.

Whenever there are concerns from the public or building owners, Singtel engages NEA to conduct measurements near the mobile base stations, antenna locations and the locations of concern. The findings are then shared with the stakeholders who raised the concern. We submit to IMDA a monthly report on newly commissioned base stations to ensure that their Effective Isotropic Radiated Power or transmission power is within its guideline. The mobile phone handsets sold at our Singtel Shops also comply with regulatory guidelines set out by RPNSD and IMDA.

In Australia, we design and deploy our network that complies with the relevant Federal Government mandated standards for exposure to EME. These standards are formulated and regularly reviewed by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). ARPANSA, part of the Commonwealth Department of Health. ARPANSA’s Standards are based upon those recommended by the ICNIRP. We also conduct audits of base stations and undertake predictive EME modelling and testing to ensure compliance at our sites with the Australian standards. More information about our efforts and EME can be found here.

The Singtel Group upholds the highest standards of customer data privacy and cyber security. We advocate greater transparency on how personal data is used and safeguard our customer data in strict adherence to data protection laws, mainly the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) in Singapore and the Privacy Act and Telecommunications Act in Australia. Singtel’s Data Protection Policy and Optus’ Privacy Policy help our customers understand how we collect, use, share and protect their personal data.

Information security and data governance management

We are guided by our Group Cyber Security Policy to manage risks associated with information security. The policy aligns with industry best practices and covers various aspects of IT risk governance including change and user access management, database configuration standards and disaster recovery planning.

We conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration tests on our corporate information systems and network infrastructure to identify and rectify security weaknesses. To maintain our strict internal controls and comprehensive governance process, all application systems undergo regular testing and security reviews prior to their production and launch. We have also established an escalation process for incident management, which includes security breaches to ensure timely response, internally and externally, to minimise impact. Through our vulnerability disclosure programme, customers, users and partners can also report any potential vulnerabilities and errors in our products and services. This will further contribute to the security and reliability of our products and services.

Our Internal Audit department is responsible for providing objective assurance on the controls related to various cyber security, data privacy and operational risks. They conduct routine audits of the Group’s critical IT systems and telecommunications infrastructure.

Management takes responsibility for acknowledging identified areas of improvement and collaborates with Internal Audit to establish mitigation measures, including control design for new programmes and initiatives. We have a Third-Party Service Provider Security Risk Governance Programme, which involves conducting awareness and compliance checks on our third-party vendors’ cyber security practices. This helps to ensure that they adhere to Singtel’s cyber security requirements and regulations. To protect data, we have strict verification processes to prevent unauthorised information access and limit staff access to information residing on our systems and vendor systems.

Generative AI

Generative Artificial Intelligence or gen AI technologies are transforming economies and societies, offering both unprecedented opportunities and risks. Formulating and implementing AI governance frameworks are vital to harness the benefits of gen AI while mitigating the associated risks. We introduced an interim policy on gen AI across the Group which guides our employees on the responsible use of gen AI tools for both personal and business purposes. We also established safeguards to ensure management oversight on gen AI projects and solutions within the Group to encourage ethical and responsible use.

Staff education and training

We take a proactive approach to raising staff awareness on cyber security and data privacy risks through education and capacity building. We require all our people to attend annual online and refresher privacy training that emphasises their responsibility to safeguard data. Targeted training is also conducted for our customer service teams and offshore contact centres that are more exposed to data privacy risks. In addition, we share data handling tips regularly through our various outreach channels to raise our people’s awareness on cyber security issues and the importance of data privacy and protection in their daily work. Our people are subject to a variety of exercises on phishing emails to ensure their capability in recognising and handling such cyber security risks. We update our programme content regularly to keep up with evolving phishing tactics and scams.

Customer empowerment

To protect our customers from the rising cybercrime threats, we send regular scam alerts to remind them to stay vigilant and protect themselves against scams. We continue to improve our processes and internal controls to protect customer data. We empower customers with the choice to opt out of receiving promotional messages or marketing calls. In Singapore, we conduct our marketing activities in accordance with the Do Not Call provisions of the PDPA and the Spam Control Act. In Australia, we act in accordance with the Privacy Act and Privacy Provisions of the Telecommunications Act, the Spam Act and Do Not Call Register.

The Singtel Group is committed to collaborating with transparent, ethical, and environmentally and socially responsible suppliers. We carefully select our suppliers to help us provide our customers with the best quality products and services. All suppliers are required to abide by the Singtel Group Supplier Code of Conduct.

We have an extensive supply chain spanning from mobile and network equipment vendors to security and managing agents. We recognise the potential human rights issues that our value chain faces. These range from health and safety risks for our suppliers’ workers to environmental degradation and even displacement of local communities from the manufacture of products that they supply to us. We are committed to upholding human rights and limit negative environmental and social impact in our supply chain through our sustainable supply chain strategy and management.

We have enhanced our process to encourage suppliers to disclose their environmental impact. For all large procurement-led sourcing activities, we have included optional sustainability-focused questions, covering carbon disclosures and environmentally friendly alternatives. Along with the incorporation of a carbon fee of S$50 per tonne of CO₂ in our tender process for projects surpassing 1,000 tonnes, we also proactively engage and educate suppliers to calculate and provide their company emission factors.

In Australia, we continue to work with Supply Nation, a non-profit organisation that links major companies throughout Australia with Indigenous Australian businesses. We now have access and opportunities to support more than 3,000 Indigenous suppliers.

Contractor workplace safety and health

Workplace safety and health (WSH) is our top priority and we strive to inculcate good safety habits and practices among our suppliers and contractors to ensure that all work activities are carried out safely.

Our contractors in Singapore and Australia are ISO 45001 certified and those in Singapore are accredited under our Safe Contractor Accreditation (SCA) programme, which we introduced in 2016. This is a set of Singtel WSH standards for contractors who perform high risk technical or physical work to mitigate safety risks with the aim of ensuring zero accidents. It requires contractors to adopt prescriptive requirements to uplift their WSH standards.

Our SCA programme reflects the evolving WSH landscape and focus on prevailing and new challenges. This includes implementing programmes to address the mental well-being of workers, adopting technology to improve WSH outcomes, and including considerations such as good WSH performance and bizSAFE certification in their selection criteria of sub-contractors.