Five things to watch November 26: Baltic Sea twin to be developed by Latvia, Liquid celebrates B-BBEE Level 1, Helios sets 2030 carbon reduction target
News

Five things to watch November 26: Baltic Sea twin to be developed by Latvia, Liquid celebrates B-BBEE Level 1, Helios sets 2030 carbon reduction target

NEWS generic .jpg

Capacity shares five key stories from around the world making headlines today!

Liberty Latin America reinforces fight against gender-based violence 

Liberty Latin America has reinforced its ongoing commitment to stand against gender-based violence (GBV) with a new policy across the company. 

The new initiative aims to strengthen support for employees who experience gender-based violence and is part of a key commitment made by the company in support of equality, diversity and inclusion. 

Kerry Scott, chief people officer of Liberty Latin America marked the launch of the global gender-based violence policy by saying: "Gender-based violence continues to be a terrible human rights violation within all societies and has negatively impacted millions around the world. 

“For us at Liberty Latin America, we recognise gender-based violence is widespread in the region we operate. Tragically, we've lost two colleagues in the past 12 months to acts of violence. 

“As a company, we've always had a no-tolerance policy for any violent act. Now, we are going a step further and rolling out a global gender-based violence policy across our company to protect our employees and support our communities."

Baltic Sea digital twin to be developed by Latvia

Latvia has announced an initiative to develop a digital twin of the Baltic Sea to combat the effects of climate change under the name of Mission Sea 2030. 

The announcement was made at the 5G Techritory forum and the digital twin is expected to provide a simulated environment where it will model the effects human activity has on the sea. 

The Baltic Sea is one of the most polluted in the world and needs to be renewed and regenerated according to 5G strategist Marios Nicalaou. 

The Baltic Sea’s digital twin will be a meaningful component to accomplishing Mission Sea 2030, using the latest technology to identify, model, and monitor the sea ecosystem,” said Janis Nigals, leader of Mission Sea at the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia

“Our aim is to foster the cooperation between industries and implement new solutions that would fuel economic growth and ensure the natural regeneration of the sea.”

Liquid celebrates reaching B-BBEE Level 1

Liquid Intelligent Technologies has announced that it has achieved Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Level 1 status. 

The company has been working to achieve the status since it expanded its operations in South Africa through the acquisition of Neotel in 2017 and is a prominent investor in the country’s telecoms and tech sectors. 

Liquid says it is committed to B-BBEE principles and aligns itself with the ICT sector code in Section 9 of the B-BBEE Act. 

Deon Geyser CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies SA said: “This is an excellent achievement for us, which we don’t take lightly. We will continue providing all our stakeholders with the excellent service associated with our brand while we continue to participate in South Africa’s transformation agenda. 

“As a leading technology player in the industry, we strongly support public and private partnerships to drive digital transformation in South Africa.”

Telcom Group’s social initiative Recode launches Telecoms Engineer Bootcamp

Telcom Group’s social initiative Recode has launched the Telecoms Engineer Bootcamp which aims to address the skills shortage and meet the UK’s growing demand for a skilled telecoms workforce. 

The boot camp offers tuition-free training and employment to better enable ISPs to support the UK government in achieving its full-fibre rollout. 

The government is aiming for a least 85% of UK premises to have access to gigabit broadband by 2025 and sad it will “seek to accelerate roll-out further to get as close to 100% as possible”. 

Shaun Gibson, CEO of Telcom Group said, “Today, the main issue facing all alt-nets across the UK is availability of skilled resources, with a particular emphasis upon telecommunications engineers. 

“There are a limited number of engineers seeking opportunities and intense competition to hire those that are coming out of programmes such as CTTS. 

“This engineer resource constraint means that the industry at large will struggle to increase its output to such a level where it can hope to meet the Government’s gigabit coverage targets without initiatives like the Telecoms Engineer Bootcamp from Recode.”

Helios Towers sets 2030 carbon reduction target

Helios towers has announced that it has set a target to reduce its carbon intensity per tenant by 46% by 2030. 

The target covers Cope 1 and 2 emissions against a 2020 baseline and covers five markets where the company was operational in 2020. 

The firm added that as it expands into new markets and collects operational data for a full year, it will continue to review the baseline for the target. 

Helios Towers’ long-term ambition is to become a net-zero carbon emissions business by 2040.

Kash Pandya, CEO of the company said: “Reducing our carbon footprint is a challenge we take incredibly seriously. Over the past five years, we have built a strong team focused on delivering reliable mobile infrastructure across our markets while reducing our dependency on generators.

“This has been achieved by becoming more efficient, connecting sites to the grid, and using renewable solutions, for example, hybrid battery and solar installations. Now, we are taking this work further by setting specific carbon intensity targets, developing a roadmap towards net-zero emissions, and investing in our markets for a more sustainable future.”

Gift this article