By Maria Claudia da Cunha*
When it comes to “sustainability,” few know well how the neutral fiber optic network model can contribute to this goal.
The business works through sharing, one of the pillars of a sustainable economy, in that it prevents each company from having its own network and eliminates kilometers of cables on the poles.
With a longer lifecycle, it also saves energy when compared to obsolete technologies, since it uses traffic through light. In addition, the model fosters digital inclusion and accelerates not only the massification of the internet, but provides new technological applications such as the advancement of 5G, Artificial Intelligence, metaverse, IoT, cloud computing, among others.
Increasingly used to achieve sustainable objectives, the use of neutral fiber optic networking contributes to efforts to minimize the negative environmental impact of telecommunications operations.
A recent survey conducted by Hootsuite, an American system specialized in brand management on social media, in partnership with the agency We Are Social, pointed out that more than 4 billion people worldwide regularly use the internet now. Over the past 10 years, the number of internet users worldwide has doubled and time spent online is steadily increasing.
It’s not hard to guess that dealing with such a large number of users requires an equally expansive infrastructure. Comprising millions of miles of cables, server rooms (EDC) spanning entire acres and of course all kinds of network devices. Each of them uses energy to function, which produces carbon dioxide, methane and many other harmful gases.
An ethical, responsible and transparent way of thinking and acting on the part of companies has become a decisive factor for an important portion of the stakeholders involved in this industry, especially for investors.
With the intention of reducing environmental impact, the industry increasingly invests in the use of technological resources and tools for optimization, enabling organizations to make their environments more economical and environmentally friendly.
The union of sustainability with technology results in what we call “Green IT”, that is, strategies in order to minimize the negative environmental impact of telecommunications operations.
As an example of this we can mention the decrease in energy consumption, reduction of refrigeration systems and materials used for cabling, chemical stability, since unlike metallic cabling, the optical fiber does not undergo oxidation, and also the decrease in the use of plastic in the work, considering that the fiber has less amount of plastic in its composition.
ESG AT V.TAL
ESG is a strategic pillar of V.tal and, therefore, the company already has a dedicated structure within the Governance, Sustainability and Audit board.
Another important initiative was the creation of the Neutrality Committee, a permanent corporate governance body that advises the Board of Directors and acts as a guarantor that V.tal’s operations are neutral, balanced, and non-discriminatory to all customers who share its infrastructure.
The company is already a signatory of the UN Global Compact in Brazil, an initiative of the United Nations (UN) to mobilize the business community in the adoption and promotion, in its business practices, of 10 (ten) universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. With this, V.tal reinforces its commitment to make the Pact part of the business strategy, operations and organizational structure.
As a result of these initiatives, we can mention the partnership with the Brazilian edtech SoulCode, whose purpose is technological education, digital inclusion, social impact, diversity and employability. SoulCode Academy is committed to promoting technical training for free, with more than 800 hours of training that includes English classes, softskills and a robust program composed of projects, as well as soft skills and English, not to mention supporting the contracting of professionals quickly.
Through this initiative, V.tal has already trained and hired a dozen professionals, in competitive specialties such as Salesforce and Data Analytics, and is expanding the scope of the partnership in 2023 to benefit even more people and areas of the company.
This set of actions represents only the beginning of an ambitious project linked to the ESG agenda and which is already intrinsic to V.tal’s disruptive business model.
*Maria Claudia da Cunha is VP of Governance, Sustainability and Internal Audit at V.tal
