21581 - SCTE Broadband August2022 COMPLETE v1

37 Vol. 44 No. 3 - September 2022 Issue from the industry already understand the importance of being eco-friendly or being sustainable in their practices. Whoever is not, we are helping them. We have a dedicated team which actually goes out and helps our business partners to turn around their position in the most efficient way. Because we’ve done it, we take pride in actually sharing that knowledge with these guys as well. I thought you were going to say, “If they don’t want to play ball, then we go find another supplier.” That’s a last resort. But again, the way the industry is poised, you need to take your suppliers along, you need to take your partners along and help them out. Your timing is perfect. A few years ago you would have met with a lot of resistance and your partner companies may not have wanted to bother with any of this. You’re bang on trend. Now it’s a good thing to be associated with. That’s right. And if you help them be more efficient in their business, improve their business processes, the relationship becomes much stronger as well. That’s what we are doing as an organization. Presumably, you are having an influence across the industry doing this? Yes, of course, because it’s always a domino effect. One company sets the pace, and then everyone else has to follow. And we were happy to be at the forefront of this and clearly, as I said, today, all the orders we receive, almost every customer strongly appreciates our ESG focus. And it’s not just talking about it, they’re sharing what they’ve already done or started to do. That’s very inspiring. Good to see some tangible evidence of this, because it does seem to be an awful lot of talk and not a lot of action, at government level anyway. Yes, but I strongly believe that businesses have a great potential to bring about these changes in societies. Governments can set guidelines or mandate, but eventually the businesses have to bring it around. Not that long ago if you had a sustainability goal, you were kind of labeled as a bit of a crank, it was a gimmick. They didn’t take you very seriously. Therefore it is remarkable that in a very short time, maybe 10 or 12 years that you are now leading the way and inspiring others. Everyone has to do it. I look at the next generation coming up, like my teenage daughters. They are very sensitive to this issue. They have founded their own eco club in their school. They go out cleaning beaches and they make sure that everything in the house that comes in is sustainable and eco-friendly, no plastics coming in, no plastic bags coming into the house. It’s again, a change which probably, eventually will be driven by the consumer at the end because consumers have started demanding it. And that’s when businesses have to change, and governments will have to change if they want to stay in power. I think our generation probably were the worst offenders for plastic bags and plastic waste. We’ve got a lot to apologize for to our kids. Yes, I agree. Because we saw this sudden revolution and the change and we probably never realized the after-effects of such consumerism. And what’s the attitude in India towards this? I imagine every country’s different. Obviously India is a big country, it’s hugely densely populated. 1.4 billion people. It’s driven at a very grassroot level today in India, again, starting from educating school children. The government is putting a lot of focus on this one as well. All the countries have signed up their pledge for being carbon neutral by a certain time, like Europe in 2050. So, I’m hopeful it happens in my lifetime. Indian customers have been given sustainability goals very clearly from top down, so they have to adhere to that. My sense is this isn’t just another bandwagon governments are jumping on. Not this time. Training is a hot topic – we could all be doing more. Could you tell me about your training procedures? The industry at large can’t get enough fibre and then if they can get fibre, they can’t get enough people to deploy that fibre. Fibre to the home or fibre to the premises is becoming a fundamental necessity. So we need people. Sustainability I N F O C U S