VivaCell-MTS awarded for the implementation of ISO 26000 international standard of CSR

VivaCell-MTS received an award for the implementation of ISO 26000 international standard of corporate social responsibility (CSR), for the first time in MTS Group, and for the spirit of responsibility toward the society shared by the company’s staff.

The company received the award during the conference “Social lifts and sustainable development of the business” held in Moscow on June 3. The conference was organized by Russia’s leading newspaper Vedomosti.

VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian, who was one of the speakers, delivered a presentation on Corporate Social Responsibility, with primary focus on CSR practice within the company and its stakeholders, based on the principles of ISO 26000.

Earlier this year, in April-May, agency InterMediaCom organized a research study on social projects in the frames of CSR implemented by subsidiary and dependent companies of AFK Sistema. The study was based on the assumption that CSR is a potentially common internal space with a high potential for synergy. The survey was conducted online, and involved 17 organizations, including AFK Sistema. The participation in the survey was voluntary. The Companies were free to submit data on any number of social projects. The research focused on the description of the project, as well as on the CSR function implementation within companies.

Remarkable about VivaCell-MTS is that besides being value-driven, most of the projects in the sphere of CSR are strategic in terms of their benefit to the society in that they are long-term, continuous, and result-oriented with clear targets and measurable mid-term and end-of-project objectives. In some of them the mobile network of the Company is one of the key infrastructural elements based on which the modernized system operates.

VivaCell-MTS has reached the level where thinking and acting in a socially responsible manner is the core of its business. And that by attending to its stakeholders’ interests, aligning it with VivaCell-MTS’ business ethics and directing all efforts towards business prosperity and the well-being of the society.

VivaCell-MTS is the first mobile operator in Armenia and the CIS that has successfully implemented ISO 26000 guidelines. The official confirmation of the implementation of the recommendations of the ISO 26000 Guideline was received on January 31, 2013.