Letter from the CEO
(GRI Content 2-22)
In 2022, we contributed to our country’s economic and social reactivation. As Partners of the territories, we support the construction of digital, inclusive, and sustainable societies. Today we are proud to say that we are the best ally for the digital transformation of all sectors: economic, public, educational, and productive. We connect close to 24 million customers, including 22 million people and 2 million companies. Connectivity and digitalization are becoming more relevant and are seen as a platform for the development and inclusion necessary to face the social challenges that have arisen in recent years: wars and global conflicts, pandemics, and climate change. For Colombia Telecomunicaciones S.A. ESP BIC1 , as a BIC company, it is a priority for Colombia to become an increasingly interconnected country in a technologically innovative way and with new sustainable operating models. This led us to focus our investments of more than COP 608 billion pesos on fiber optics and improving the quality of mobile networks. We are the lead operator in Fiber Optics in the country: we closed 2022 with more than 3.6 million homes connected in the 48 locations where we have coverage, which generated an improvement in connection speed, offering up to 900 Megas. Additionally, we were Partners in improving the productivity of our business and Government customers by being the leading digital solutions provider.
The year 2022 was a particularly challenging year, yet, our team, composed of more than 6 thousand direct employees, made it possible for us to achieve and surpass all the goals we set for ourselves; I would like to acknowledge and thank them for their dedication and effort.
As the first telecommunications operator in Colombia to
become a Benefit and Collective Interest Company BIC,
we continue to develop good practices in our business
model, corporate governance, environmental protection,
respect for Human Rights, community and labor
management. It is significant to emphasize that our
mission is “to make our world more human, connecting
people’s lives” and, in this sense, we have always
worked to ensure that the connectivity we offer is
sustainable, inclusive, that supports overcome
inequality and generate wellbeing, we work to connect
the unconnected, we “Connect with purpose”. With a focus
on inclusion and accessibility, we are safeguarding the
fundamental rights of people with disabilities,
especially those related to access to information and
communications. In this order of ideas, we implemented
initiatives that allow us to increasingly reduce the
digital divide of millions of Colombians with
disabilities; from which we underline the accessible
offer and the enabling of the ICT Ministry Centro de
Relevo app without data charges for our customers. This
app allows people with hearing disabilities to
communicate with interpreters. These initiatives made us
worthy of the ANDESCO Sustainability Award in the
special Category 2022: Inclusion.
Undoubtedly,
incorporating sustainability into the Company’s strategy
as a cross-cutting theme has ensured our superb
financial results in terms of operations and revenues,
since in 2022, the Company obtained $7.9 billion in
revenues, achieving an EBITDA of $2.441 MM, which meant
growth and outstanding performance of revenues in all
segments, under management of our business with a social
and environmental perspective supported by technology
and under sustainable standards evidenced by the
certifications of the Environmental Management Systems,
Occupational Health and Safety, Quality, Information
Security, Anti-bribery Management System, Business
Continuity Management System (SGCN); as well as with the
Authorized Economic Operator Program – AEO, and
Equipares Gold Seal.
That said, our commitment to Colombia goes beyond connectivity and digitalization, since due to other organizations of the Telefonica Group in Colombia, such as Wayra and Telefonica Colombia Foundation, in 2022, we launched the first 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) laboratory in Colombia, we had 25 Colombian startups in the Wayra Hispam portfolio, and more than 2 million people benefited from the Education, Employability,
Volunteering, Knowledge and Digital Culture programs. It fills me with joy and pride to celebrate 15 years of Telefónica Foundation for its significant achievements as an ally of the country in closing the educational and employability digital divide and contributing to sustainable development. Sustainable development is definitely our big commitment and to achieve it, we are aware of the importance of all our Partners, who are committed to us in respect for Human Rights, the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Principles of the United Nations Global Compact, as well as the ANDESCO Sustainability Agreement and the various initiatives in which we participate. To have more detailed information about our 2022 management, I invite you to read our BIC Management Report with GRI standards.