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Maritius - The Digital Paradise Island In The Indian Ocean
Saturday, 03 January 2009 16:34

 

Broadband Services
In Mauritius		Broadband TechnologiesFamilyServicesRadio FrequenciesRemarks
TechnologyFrequencies
WIRELESSWimaxMobile 802.16eMobile Internet, Voice, Video, DataMIMO / SOFDMA / TDD2.3 – 2.5 GHz 3.5 GHz
(Bandwidth 8.75 - 10 MHz) 		Well established/
More and more operators using this technology
HSDPA3.5G/
UMTS		Mobile Internet, Video, DataCDMA / FDD700 – 900 MHzOne Operator
CDMA 2000
EV-DO		CDMA 2000
3G		Mobile
Internet, Voice, Data		CDMA / FDD1.8, 1.9, 2.1 GHzOne Operator
iBurstiBurst 802.20 Pro 4GSemi Mobile InternetSDMA / TDMA / FDMA1.790 -1.800 GHz
(Bandwidth 5 MHz)		A project of London Telephone System since 2007 – not yet established
LTE    Not yet established
WIREDCopper ADSL Fixed Internet  Well established
Optical Fibre    underway
DVB-H    Tested in 2006
Table: WIRED and WIRELESS BROADBAND TECHNOLOGIES
 
Like Malaysia, with its Cyberjaya, Mauritius has created its ‘Cybercity’ at Ebène, located at the centre of the island. It has world-class business parks operational since 2004?? with ultra modern features, at par with high-tech parks found in developed countries. They provide computing on demand, interactive data centres to back up data and services for BPOs, Call Centres, Web hosting, Software development, Consultancy services, e-commerce, financial transactions etc.
Technical manuals for one of the largest French car manufacturers are being developed in Mauritius, the monitoring of the press and TV channels for the French market is being done in Mauritius and back office support for Cisco systems, the Number One networking company in the world, is being done from Mauritius. Key players already in Mauritius include Microsoft, Infosys, Accenture, Oracle, Infinity, Orange, etcWe foresee an increase in activities in the ICT sector as global companies try to locate cost-effective and efficient destinations to operate amidst the financial crisis. Mauritius has assembled all the critical success factors to attract the global companies to Mauritius owing to the following strategic advantages:
  • Political Stability
  • Strong Economy
  • Qualified Work Force
  • Developed Infrastructure
  • Preferential Market Access
  • Dynamic Private Sector
  • Pleasant Living Environment

Attractive Incentives

Number of Companies in the ICT sector
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO’s)- 109
Call Centres- 42
Software Development- 49
Web Hosting- 30
Consultancy- 25
TOTAL:- 255
Mauritius is experiencing and at a fast rate, if not exponential, the following:1.       Unification of fixed and mobile networks 2.       Demand of value-added services for end-users (corporate, SME and consumers) 3.       New access technologies 4.       New devices and terminals 5.       New digital contents and multimedia services

The Convergence Transform, a concept which I did develop? before year 2000, and tested on several occasions between 2003 and 2006 at the INFOTECH exhibitions organised every year? by the National Computer Board, is becoming a reality in Mauritius? with Triple and Quad Play provided by different Telco’s. This is a good sign for the Mauritian telecommunication industry and we are surely moving towards a Multi Play system with the level of competition we are witnessing lately as shown in Table 1 below.

 

ServiceCompetition
Local servicesFull competition
Domestic fixed long distFull competition
Inter-national fixed long distFull competition
Wireless local loopFull competition
DataFull competition
DSLFull competition
Cable modemN/A
VSATFull competition
Leased linesFull competition
Fixed Wireless Broad-bandFull competition
Mobile Full competition
PagingN/A
Cable TVN/A
Fixed satFull competition
Mobile satFull competition
GMPCSFull competition
IMT 2000Full competition
Internet servicesFull competition
International gatewaysFull competition
Source: ITU

Services and content providers have to satisfy the needs of end users such as personalised, value-added, cost effective, economic services as an integral approach anywhere and anytime.? This is not unfamiliar in Mauritius with the response from so many telecommunication and ISP operators either on wired or wireless broadband. Table 2? above gives a snapshot of the current situation in Mauritius.Mauritius is the first country in Africa to have introduced Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT). It was on 30th September 2005 that the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) as Public Broadcaster and Multicarrier Mauritius Ltd (MCML) as Public Transmission Company jointly launched DTT with over twenty TV relay stations to cover the whole island in the UHF bands and to provide quality digital television channels. In June 2007, a private TV company London Satellite Systems also started broadcasting in digital on its MMDS platform with eighteen television channels covering nearly fifty per cent of the country. I have mentioned digital terrestrial television because with DVB-H and IP-centric convergence, many value added services and business opportunities may add up to the new revenue streams with IPTV and Mobile TV.To achieve all these developments, the government has adopted a rational and straight approach to help create a broadband society. Parliament passed the Information and Communication Technologies Authority Act in late 2001 and created the Information and Communication Authority (ICTA) whose vision is to contribute to an efficient, competitive and optimally regulated ICT sector.

And recently, as per the ICTA News release, the Honourable Asraf Dulull, the Minister of Information and Communication Technology, officially launched the consultation process on two Key ICTA projects and said that a well established regulatory framework is paramount in order for the Mauritian ICT sector to compete with developed nations. What is also of interest was the fact that he said during a meeting with the senior management and members of staff from different departments the following: “What we don’t want to see is for the ICT industry to evolve in a virtual jungle”.? This is very important and responsible statement for a small affluent and populous country like Mauritius ‘The Digital Paradise Island’ in the midst of the Indian Ocean, moving towards business excellence.

 

Licence Holders for the following telecommunication services in Mauritius

Public Switch (Fixed) Telephone Network (PSTN) Licence (C.02)
Mahanagar Telephone (Mauritius) Ltd.
Mauritius Telecom Ltd.
 
Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) Licence (C.03)
Cellplus Mobile Communications Ltd.
Emtel Ltd.
Mahanagar Telephone (Mauritius) Ltd.
 
International Long Distance (ILD) Network Licence (C.04)
City Call Ltd.
Data Communications Ltd.
Emtel Ltd.
Hot Link Co. Ltd.
Mahanagar Telephone (Mauritius) Ltd.
Mauritius Telecom Ltd.
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TLC(Mauritius) Ltd.
Internet Service Provider Licence (C.08)
Africa Digital Bridges Networks Ltd.
City Call Ltd.
Data Communications Ltd.
Enterprise Information Systems
Emtel Ltd.
I-Telecom Ltd
Mahanagar Telephone (Mauritius) Ltd.
Mauripost Net Ltd.
Mauritius Computing Services
MFDC Ltd.
Paging Services Ltd.
SITA
Telecom Plus
 

Source: ICTA (26 December 2008)
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