Communications in Mauritius
Encyclopedia
Telecommunications had an early beginning in Mauritius, with the first telephone line installed in 1883, seven years after the invention of the telephone. Over the years, the network and telephony improved. By the late 20th century, the rapid development and convergence of information and telecommunications technologies gave rise to an ICT industry on the island along with many incentives provided by the government. The government thus aims to make the ICT sector the 5th pillar of the Mauritian economy and Mauritius a Cyber Island.
, only seven years after the invention of the telephone. The first telephone line was set up between the Colony Governor's residence in Reduit and Government House in Port Louis
. The telephone network was maintained by the Electricity and Telephone Department till 1956. From that date, the telecommunications department took that responsibility.
In 1893, Mauritius was linked to Zanzibar via a sub-marine telegraphic cable followed by Rodrigues in 1901.
Before the independence of the country and till 1985, international communications were managed by Cable and Wireless, a private British company. From 1985, Overseas Telecommunications Services, which subsequently became Mauritius Telecom Limited
took over.
The Central Information Systems Division (CISD), formerly known as Data Processing Division (DPD), was created in 1971. The CISD nowadays is responsible for government payroll IT systems, government email, maintenance of all government/departmental websites and technical support.
In 1987, a second standard B earth station and a domestic satellite network were installed with Rodrigues and the Outer Islands. That same year, a X.25
Packet Switched data exchange was also installed.
In July 1988, the state-owned Department of Telecommunications was privatised to become the Mauritius Telecommunications Services (MTS). With privatisation, national and international activities were merged to form Mauritius Telecom Ltd
.
The 1988 Telecommunications Act established the legal framework to cater for telecom services in a state-owned monopoly.
The National Computer Board (NCB) was also set up in 1988 by the National Board Act (No 43) to advise the Government on the formulation of national policies for the development of the IT sector and promote an IT culture in the country.
In 1989, the Central Informatics Bureau (CIB) was created whose main functions were to plan and coordinate computerization within the Civil Service.
The State Informatics Limited was also set up in 1989 initially to help in the computerization of the Civil Service.
By 1997, the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications was created to formulate and implement policies regarding the development of the ICT sector. The CISD and CIB became departments within this new ministry.
However, following the General Agreement on Trade in Services
(GATS) at the WTO, the 1988 Telecommunications Act was replaced with by the Telecommunications Act of 1998 which provided the legal framework to enable the emergence of a free and democratised telecommunications market on the island. This act also created the Mauritius Telecommunications Authority (MTA) as a regulatory body for the telecommunications sector.
With the development of Information and Communications Technologies, the Telecommunications Act of 1998 was replaced by the Information and Communication Technologies Act of 2001. The MTA was subsequently replaced by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA).
359,000 (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
940,000 (2007)(77% of the population)
Telephone system:
small system with good service
domestic:
primarily microwave radio relay trunk system
international:
country code - 230; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean); new microwave link to Reunion; HF radiotelephone links to several countries; fiber optic submarine cable (SAT-3/WASC
/SAFE
) provides connectivity to Europe and Asia
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 4, FM 9, shortwave 0 (2002)
Radios:
420,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
2 (plus several repeaters) (1997)
Televisions:
258,000 (1997)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
4 (2008)
Internet users:
180,000 (2005)
Country code (Top level domain): MU
has several operators like Mauritius Telecom
, Nomad, Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius Limited (MTML)
& Emtel
. Each operator uses a different technology to provide Internet access. Nomad makes use of WiMax
, MTML uses CDMA 2000 and Emtel uses HSDPA(3.5G).
The monopoly is retained by Mauritius Telecom
(MT) which provides dial-up & ADSL services over existing telephone lines.
History
In 1883, basic telephony was introduced in MauritiusMauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, only seven years after the invention of the telephone. The first telephone line was set up between the Colony Governor's residence in Reduit and Government House in Port Louis
Port Louis
-Economy:The economy is dominated by its port, which handles Mauritius' international trade. The port was founded by the French who preferred Port Louis as the City is shielded by the Port Louis/Moka mountain range. It is the largest container handling facility in the Indian Ocean and can...
. The telephone network was maintained by the Electricity and Telephone Department till 1956. From that date, the telecommunications department took that responsibility.
In 1893, Mauritius was linked to Zanzibar via a sub-marine telegraphic cable followed by Rodrigues in 1901.
Before the independence of the country and till 1985, international communications were managed by Cable and Wireless, a private British company. From 1985, Overseas Telecommunications Services, which subsequently became Mauritius Telecom Limited
Mauritius Telecom
Mauritius Telecom is a telecommunications and Internet service provider in Mauritius, a small republic in the Indian Ocean. The company has about 332,000 fixed telephone lines customers, 650,000 mobile customers, 25,000 customers...
took over.
The Central Information Systems Division (CISD), formerly known as Data Processing Division (DPD), was created in 1971. The CISD nowadays is responsible for government payroll IT systems, government email, maintenance of all government/departmental websites and technical support.
In 1987, a second standard B earth station and a domestic satellite network were installed with Rodrigues and the Outer Islands. That same year, a X.25
X.25
X.25 is an ITU-T standard protocol suite for packet switched wide area network communication. An X.25 WAN consists of packet-switching exchange nodes as the networking hardware, and leased lines, Plain old telephone service connections or ISDN connections as physical links...
Packet Switched data exchange was also installed.
In July 1988, the state-owned Department of Telecommunications was privatised to become the Mauritius Telecommunications Services (MTS). With privatisation, national and international activities were merged to form Mauritius Telecom Ltd
Mauritius Telecom
Mauritius Telecom is a telecommunications and Internet service provider in Mauritius, a small republic in the Indian Ocean. The company has about 332,000 fixed telephone lines customers, 650,000 mobile customers, 25,000 customers...
.
The 1988 Telecommunications Act established the legal framework to cater for telecom services in a state-owned monopoly.
The National Computer Board (NCB) was also set up in 1988 by the National Board Act (No 43) to advise the Government on the formulation of national policies for the development of the IT sector and promote an IT culture in the country.
In 1989, the Central Informatics Bureau (CIB) was created whose main functions were to plan and coordinate computerization within the Civil Service.
The State Informatics Limited was also set up in 1989 initially to help in the computerization of the Civil Service.
By 1997, the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications was created to formulate and implement policies regarding the development of the ICT sector. The CISD and CIB became departments within this new ministry.
However, following the General Agreement on Trade in Services
General Agreement on Trade in Services
The General Agreement on Trade in Services is a treaty of the World Trade Organization that entered into force in January 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations...
(GATS) at the WTO, the 1988 Telecommunications Act was replaced with by the Telecommunications Act of 1998 which provided the legal framework to enable the emergence of a free and democratised telecommunications market on the island. This act also created the Mauritius Telecommunications Authority (MTA) as a regulatory body for the telecommunications sector.
With the development of Information and Communications Technologies, the Telecommunications Act of 1998 was replaced by the Information and Communication Technologies Act of 2001. The MTA was subsequently replaced by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA).
General Statistics
Telephones - main lines in use:359,000 (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
940,000 (2007)(77% of the population)
Telephone system:
small system with good service
domestic:
primarily microwave radio relay trunk system
international:
country code - 230; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean); new microwave link to Reunion; HF radiotelephone links to several countries; fiber optic submarine cable (SAT-3/WASC
SAT-3/WASC (cable system)
SAT-3/WASC or South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable is a submarine communications cable linking Portugal and Spain to South Africa, with connections to several West African countries along the route. It forms part of the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE cable system, where the SAFE cable links South Africa...
/SAFE
SAFE (cable system)
The South Africa Far East cable is an optical fiber submarine communications cable linking Melkbosstrand, South Africa to Penang, Malaysia.It was commissioned in 2002 and built by Tyco Submarine Systems of the USA with an initial capacity of 10 Gigabits per second, which is upgradeable to 130...
) provides connectivity to Europe and Asia
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 4, FM 9, shortwave 0 (2002)
Radios:
420,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
2 (plus several repeaters) (1997)
Televisions:
258,000 (1997)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
4 (2008)
Internet users:
180,000 (2005)
Country code (Top level domain): MU
.mu
.mu is the Internet country code top-level domain for Mauritius. It is administered by the Mauritius Network Information Centre and registrations are processed via accredited registrars. Some registrars market it as the .music and .museum TLD....
Broadband Internet access
MauritiusMauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
has several operators like Mauritius Telecom
Mauritius Telecom
Mauritius Telecom is a telecommunications and Internet service provider in Mauritius, a small republic in the Indian Ocean. The company has about 332,000 fixed telephone lines customers, 650,000 mobile customers, 25,000 customers...
, Nomad, Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius Limited (MTML)
Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius Limited (MTML)
Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius Limited is a telecommunications and Internet service provider in Mauritius, a small republic in the Indian Ocean.Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius Limited was founded in 2003 by MTNL an Indian Government-owned telephone service provider.MTNL has set up its 100%...
& Emtel
Emtel
Emtel Ltd. is an international joint venture between Currimjee Jeewanjee & Co. Ltd. and Millicom International Cellular SA, a leading operator in mobile and other telephone services and systems worldwide. Emtel Ltd...
. Each operator uses a different technology to provide Internet access. Nomad makes use of WiMax
WiMAX
WiMAX is a communication technology for wirelessly delivering high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas. The 2005 WiMAX revision provided bit rates up to 40 Mbit/s with the 2011 update up to 1 Gbit/s for fixed stations...
, MTML uses CDMA 2000 and Emtel uses HSDPA(3.5G).
The monopoly is retained by Mauritius Telecom
Mauritius Telecom
Mauritius Telecom is a telecommunications and Internet service provider in Mauritius, a small republic in the Indian Ocean. The company has about 332,000 fixed telephone lines customers, 650,000 mobile customers, 25,000 customers...
(MT) which provides dial-up & ADSL services over existing telephone lines.
External links
- Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICT Authority) - The Authority is the national regulator for the ICT sector and Postal Services in Mauritius