February 2025 The GSMA is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystemto discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positivebusiness environments and societal change. Our vision is to unlockthe full power of connectivity so that people, industry and societythrive. Representing mobile operators and organisations acrossthe mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA deliversfor its members across three broad pillars: Connectivity for Good, GSMA Intelligence is the definitive source of global mobile operatordata, analysis and forecasts, and the publisher of authoritativeindustry reports and research. Our data covers every operator group,network and MVNO in every country worldwide – from Afghanistan GSMA Intelligence is relied on by leading operators, vendors,regulators, financial institutions and third-party industry playersto support strategic decision-making and long-term investment We invite you to find out more atwww.gsma.com Our team of analysts and experts produce regular thought-leadingresearch reports across a range of industry topics. Follow the GSMA on X:@GSMA Contents 1.Executive summary 2.Context7 Executivesummary Improving transparency Ensuring privacy andtransparency– More than85% of participating operatorgroups reported having apolicy covering consumers’digital rights. These policiesvary in depth across operators,with the most comprehensive Integrating ESG criteria into Supporting digital inclusion Harmonising ESG metrics – The mobile industry hasdeveloped a set of core ESGKPIs, known as ESG Metrics forMobile. These KPIs complementexisting disclosures byoperators and are categorisedinto environment, digitalinclusion, digital integrity andsupply chain. In 2024, – A lack of literacy anddigital skills hinder mobileinternet adoption and usage,underlining the importanceof operators’ digital skillsprogrammes. During thereporting period, operators – Nearly all participatingoperators indicated thatthey have implemented asustainable procurementpolicy. Of those operatorswho provided details on theirpolicy’s scope, at least 80% – All 24 operators participatingin ESG Metrics for Mobilebenchmarking in 2024disclosed Scope 1 and 2emissions (operationalemissions), reporting anaverage year-on-year declineof 7%. Moreover, 23 out of the Percentage of operators participating in the ESG Metricsfor Mobile 2024 study who reported a year-on-year Used mobile devices collected through operator take-back schemes as a percentage of new mobile devices The reduction in reported Scope 1 and 2 emissionsreflects energy efficiency efforts in networks, datacentres and offices, as well as the electrification of fleets Leading operators have set a target for the number of usedmobile devices collected through take-back schemes toreach at least 20% of new mobile devices distributed by Median retail price of cheapest entry-level smartphonesold by operators (as a % of monthly GDP per capita) Percentage of operators who reported no data breachesin the past year However, in two countries, the retail price of the cheapestentry-level smartphone exceeded 15% of monthly GDPper capita. Meanwhile, the retail price of the cheapest Of those who did report a data breach, about 0.01% ofsubscribers were affected by the data breaches on average.Additionally, three participating operators reported facing Context ESG Metricsfor Mobile Development of industry-specific KPIs– Through consultations and workshops withmobile operators, industry stakeholders andsubject matter experts, a set of core KPIs has Alignment with established standards–The industry ESG metrics align to existing standards, guidance and methodologies where possible. Thisincludes those established by the Global ReportingInitiative (GRI), the Sustainability Accounting What’s included and why– The industry KPIs areorganised into four categories (see right). Theyhave been selected on the basis that they arecomparable, will be relatively easy to introducenow, are meaningful to external stakeholders andare useful for internal decision-makers. The KPIs ESG Metrics for Mobile– 2024 benchmarking Background– Partnering with a global set ofoperators, the GSMA ESG Metrics for Mobilebenchmarking is based on fully anonymised datainputs, with goals of improving the standardisationof ESG reporting across the mobile industry and Growing participation– In the 2023 ESG Metrics forMobile pilot programme, 10 operators submitted FY2022 data to GSMA Intelligence to gain insights intothe landscape and progress of their ESG efforts. In2024, 24 operators (representing nearly one-third of 2025 and beyond– We intend to extend this intoa multi-year study with a wider group of industryparticipants to increase the representativenessand direct applicability of the research. For moreinformation on the project or to become directly ESG Metrics forMobile – disclosure Figure 3:Number of participating operators disclosing data for eachmetric family Diffe