Sustainability

How a maker of traditional oyster chili paste embraced online tools to protect the incomes of women in Surat Thani Thailand’s Department of Agricultural Extension established the “Farmer Housewife Groups (กลุ่มแม่บ้านเกษตรกร)” in 1970 to empower women in the agricultural sector. Today, around 6.47 million women work in the agricultural sector. The group’s members still come together on a voluntary basis to process agricultural produce into products, which helps increase their household income and improve their living conditions amid growing challenges due to climate change and volatile crop prices. Today, there are around 20,000 such groups nationwide. dtacblog spoke to Benjanart Kongchareon of Sontiwat Farmer Housewife Group in Surat Thani. A participant in the dtac Net for Living program, she turns local produce into popular OTOP (One Tambon One Product) products with seven-figure sales (in Thai baht). Building a Brand Identity Ka Dae sub-district is located in the Southern province of Surat Thani. Most people there are farmers, growing palm trees, rubber trees, longan, mangosteen, durian or various vegetables. Others own oyster farms, which is one of Surat Thani’s signature products. However, in the past decade, extreme weather and climate change has resulted in longer summers, heavy downpours, and frequent floods…

According to the National Statistical Office of Thailand, there are about 13 million elderly in Thailand (aged over 60), one-third of whom live alone or with their senior partners. Without adequate social safety nets, this could impact their livelihood and poses social and economic challenges to the country as it is stepping into a ‘super aged[1]’ society in the next decade. Aging Alone In Chiang Mai’s Saraphi district, hundreds of elders live alone. They have been abandoned by their family or don’t receive adequate care. Local administrative bodies, foundations, and the civil society have stepped in to offer support in various forms. One of them is Kunyasa Chaikularb, a former social worker from Chiang Rai. Ms. Kunyasa moved to Chiang Mai two decades ago to start her social work career at a foundation whose aim was to improve livelihood of children orphaned by HIV and AIDS. Later she received funding from foreigners who wanted to help out people with physical disabilities and the elderly who live alone and need support. “I started working to support unaccompanied seniors after I witnessed these problems myself. Many older people spend their final years as a worker at longan plantations, earning a daily wage…

In 2020, it was estimated that each farmer household had a debt of about 225,000 baht in average. The Office of Agricultural Economics also forecasted that the COVID-19 crisis will lead to an increase of debts of each farmer household by 16 percent this year. dtacblog spoke to Tewarak “Fonghwin” Nimcharoen, a 40-year-old farmer who joined dtac Net for Living and learned to use connectivity to grow more resilient income streams for herself. Not only she is now totally debt-free, but she can also pay herself quarterly and biannual bonuses. She also makes sure to share her knowledge with her fellow farmers. The Ban Nee Mee Rak Happy Farm is located in Chachoengsao’s Bang Khla district, to the east of Bangkok. Secret Recipe “I used to be an office worker, working as a manager at a petrol station. But at the age of 25, my father fell ill. So I had to give up my job and came back to my hometown,” Ms. Tewarak said. “I had to take over the farm that my father owned and started with almost zero knowledge.” During the first five years, her father acted as a coach, passing whatever knowledge he had to his…

The COVID-19 outbreak has put unprecedented pressure on global supply chains while also increasing the need for mobile connectivity. For dtac, the challenge is thus to guarantee the health and safety of its network operations teams while accelerating its network rollout. At the end of Q2’21, approximately 9,100 nodes of 700 MHz were installed, and dtac will continue to expand 5G capability to more sites in high-traffic areas. An operation of this size requires vendors and partners, which all need to agree to dtac’s strict safety measures and human rights standards for all workers in its supply chain. One of them is BB Technology Company Limited (BBtec), an integrated telecom operator in the Benchachinda Group, who has been providing cell site installation and maintenance services for dtac for more than ten years. The firm’s services include consulting, survey, design, system analysis and development, base-station construction, installations of fiber optic, exchange network infrastructure, system installations, supervision and network-system maintenance. “Signal tower construction and network-systems installations are complicated. Think of it as building a house, with several contractors for the foundation, roof, electrical systems, water system, and so on. If just one of these contractors isn’t up to standard, the whole project…

The year 2020 triggered a seismic shift in our relationship with the online world. With COVID-19, more people are working from home and connecting online with loved ones they can no longer meet in person. But just as reliance on connectivity grows, so do concerns about data privacy. “As more businesses and people moved into the digital world, we’ve seen a change in how they viewed the online environment,” said Marcus Adaktusson, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at dtac. “They are increasingly concerned about their privacy.” In Cisco’s 2020 Consumer Privacy Survey, 60 percent of respondents expressed concerns about their data being protected in the tools they are using while remote working or learning. The top three concerns were that the data will be used for unrelated purposes, that the data will be shared too broadly with third parties, and that the data will not be deleted or anonymized. Furthermore, 29 percent of those surveyed said they would switch brands due to data practices. This growing demographic of ‘privacy actives’ signals a shift in consumer attitudes globally about how their data is used and what control they have over their privacy. “Privacy issues are a growing concern for customers. But it’s often…

The COVID-19 crisis exposed major vulnerabilities in global operations and supply chains. But dtac was able to quickly localize production and implement a wide-reaching work from home policy. Tipayarat Kaewsringam, chief sales officer at dtac, spoke at the dtac Responsible Business Virtual Forum 2021, to explain how dtac achieved such resilience in its supply chain. “Digital connectivity is critical to continuing social and economic activity under lockdown restrictions and work-from-home policies. Thus dtac must provide uninterrupted services, but also ensure the safety of its employees and those who operate on behalf of the company,” she said. Resilient Operations Today, around 95 percent of dtac office employees and call center agents are able to work from home. Working from home allows them to operate during lockdowns but also reduces the risk of infections which could cause teams to be quarantined. “Even in shops, which must continue to operate as mobile operators are considered an essential service, teams are split in half and work alternate weeks. If one team is exposed and must quarantine, the other team can continue to operate,” said Ms. Tipayarat. Moreover, the Network Operation Center, located at the dtac Headquarters, is ready to relocate at alternate sites. In…