Telecommunications
Structure and Policy
The Ministry of Telecommunications and Information
Technology deals with the formulation and implementation of Government
policies in the Telecommunications and Information Technology sectors.
The Ministry is divided into two
main sectors, namely the Telecommunications Sector and the Information Technology Sector.
Telecommunications Sector
The Telecommunications Sector is governed by the Telecommunication Act (Act
No.10) of 1988.
A Telecommunication Authority was
established under the Telecommunication Act 1988 to regulate the telecommunications
sector. At present, the Telecommunication Authority is responsible for considering
applications and issuing operating licences. The Telecommunication Authority has also the
right to revoke licences and to allocate spectrum including frequencies for broadcast.
There is also a Telecommunication Advisory
Council set up under the Telecommunication Act 1988 and which falls under the
direct responsibility of the Ministry. Its main function is to advise the Minister of
Telecommunication and Information Technology on all matters relating to
telecommunications.
Mauritius
Telecom is the main public telephone operator in
Mauritius. It took over the operation of telecommunication services from the former
Telecommunications Department in 1988. It provides the built-in telecommunication
infrastructure as well as local and international telecommunications.
In 1997, Mauritius Telecom
announced its plans to spend some US$ 70 million a year for the next five years on network
building.
Mauritius Telecom has a number
of subsidiaries:
- Telecom Plus was
set up in 1995 by Mauritius Telecom, the national telecommunications operator in
Mauritius and France Cables et Radio (FCR), a
subsidiary of France Telecom, to provide value-added telecommunication services to
support the development of basic networks in Mauritius. Telecom Plus is
currently the sole Internet Service Provider in Mauritius, and offers other services such
as fax, videoconferencing and distance learning.
Cellplus
Mobile Communications Ltd. is a GSM-based cellular network launched in 1996.
The company shares 35%
of the market with an ETACS-based cellular network competitor, Emtel, introduced in 1989 and 46% owned by Millicom International
Cellular (M.I.C.) S.A, based in Luxembourg. The
international roaming agreements signed with no less than 61 major operators in 40
countries allow GSM users almost world-wide to remain in touch when travelling in
Mauritius.
Southern
Telecom is a joint venture between Mauritius Telecom (51%), Telecom &
Electrical Services (TES) and Computer Management Services (CMS) Limited. Incorporated in
December 1996, the company markets small and large Nortel PABX systems in the Republic of
South Africa. Southern Telecom has received the approval of Nortel to exploit neighboring
countries namely Swaziland, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Angola and Botswana.
Teleservices
(Mtius) Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mauritius Telecom, offers radio paging
services country-wide.
Mauritius
Telecom holds 50% of the shares of TELESERVE, a subsidiary company of
Telecommunicaçoes De Moçambique. TELESERVE markets, sells, installs and maintains
Nortel PABX System and operates and implements the Audiotex services in Mozambique.
TELSEA is
a partnership between Mauritius Telecom, France Cables et Radio and INVESCOM (a consortium
of Mauritius Investors). Telsea holds 66% of the shares of Société Malgache de Mobiles
which is a holder of the GSM licence in Madagascar. TELSEA operates the GSM network
in Madagascar and provides cellular services under the commercial name ANTARIS.
Mauritius is
committed to liberalising its telecommunications sector by 2004 when the entire sector
will be opened up for competition. This is outlined in the White Paper on the
telecommunications sector published by the government. The Government
of Mauritius has decided to:
- gradually liberalise the
telecommunications market;
- ultimately achieve open competition
in the telecommunications sector at all levels and on all services;
- progressively divest itself of its
equity in Mauritius Telecom; and
- enact new legislation that will
promote development of the sector.
In September 1997, following an
extensive review of existing arrangements for provision of telecommunications services in
Mauritius, the government issued a Green Paper on telecommunications
entitled "Strategies and Policies for the Info-Communications Sector
1997-2007". The Green Paper put into perspective the broad policy issues
that need to be addressed in order to evolve appropriate strategies for the development of
the telecommunications sector over the period 1997 to 2007. Consequently, a whole day
seminar was organised by the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology on
11 October 1997. The participants at the seminar represented a wide cross-section of the
stakeholders in the telecommunications sector. The views offered and information gathered
during the consultative process have been assimilated and analysed. This White Paper
summarises what Government believes to be the best policy solutions and framework for
Mauritius towards development of a vibrant and efficient telecommunications sector over
the next decade.
The objectives for reform of the
telecommunications sector are to:
- provide access to the most modern
telecommunications services possible at fair prices;
- improve Mauritius’ position and
competitive edge in global markets;
- enhance the economic and social life
of the nation;
- progressively divest from Mauritius
Telecom by adopting an appropriate privatisation strategy within a liberalised
market-place;
- establish an employee shareholding
scheme;
- ensure that essential national
interests are protected; and
- create propitious conditions for
Mauritius to become an info-communications hub in the region.
The principles that will be applied
in the achievement of the above objectives are:
- the active promotion by the
government of an information-based economy;
- the introduction of competition as
circumstances permit;
- an effective and independent
regulatory body with clearly defined powers and responsibilities; and
- private sector participation to the
greatest extent possible.
The specific policy measures that
will be adopted by the government to apply these principles are as follows:
- new legislation will be introduced
in Parliament to replace the Telecommunication Act of 1988;
- a new regulatory body will be
established to replace the existing Telecommunication Authority;
- a transformation of the
Government’s primary role from being owner of the main provider of services to one of
policy maker;
- progressive divestment by the
government of its equity shares in Mauritius Telecom to investors; and
- the gradual introduction of
competition and liberalisation of the sector.
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ICT
Networking Development
The Government of Mauritius has
been active in the promotion of information and communication technology in every
socio-economic sphere and steering the country towards the information age.
The computerisation of
various governmental agencies dates back to 1989 with the setting up of the following four
major players: National
Computer Board (NCB), Central Informatics Bureau (CIB),
State Informatics Limited (SIL) and State
Informatics Training Centre Limited (SITRAC).
Government’s investment on computerisation in the Civil Service has so far been
around Rs 410 million and this amount covers hardware, software and training. There are
quite a number of major IT projects presently under implementation.
NCB is
the programme manager for the National IT Strategy Plan (NITSP)
developed as part of the Government's strategic objectives to
accelerate Mauritius’ transformation into a
nation where IT would be fully exploited.
The NITSP
project was proposed to be carried out in three phases. Phase I is the current state
assessment and mobilisation of resources. Phase II will focus on working out an actionable
plan for the next 3 to 5 years. Phase III will focus on implementation of the plan.
On May 1997, NCB (Mauritius) and NCS (Singapore) signed an
agreement to conduct the Phase I study. Phase I study took about 6 weeks with 2 weeks of
fieldwork in Mauritius. The Phase I study report, delivered in August 1997, has
reviewed and identified gaps between the current and desired state of IT exploitation in
Mauritius. The study recommended an integrated IT strategy, "the SHOCKING
strategy with a set of building blocks", which could chart the course for Mauritius
to realign its national outlook in striving for economic and social development. The eight
building blocks are:
- The Standards &
Practices building block is based on the need for organisations to set up quality
systems and practices so that knowledge is retained within the organisation system and not
just within the people.
- The key thrust in the Human
Resource area is to close the people management gaps within three target groups
namely IT users, IT professionals and the general public.
- Organisation Incentives
must be given to the private sector to invest in IT so as to revitalise the Mauritian
economy and position Mauritius as a business hub, using IT as a strategic weapon.
- Civil Service
Computerisation must be carried out with a strategic approach.
- Key Drivers refer to
the highly skilled champions who are experts in exploiting IT to enable the enterprises to
gain their competitive edge. The key thrust is to plan, select, train and develop IT
leaders backed with a reward mechanism and a supportive culture.
- A strong IT Industry
will be the main driving force to push the economy towards a higher level of performance.
The Mauritius IT industry development strategy should aim at attaining the right balance
of local and external expertise. The multi-national companies linkage can be the main
agent for transfer of technology.
- Innovative, visible, high impact,
deployable National Applications must be developed across sectors as
flagship applications to showcase the potential benefits of IT exploitation as well as
encouraging inter-sectors and intra-sector collaboration.
- With the Global Vision
of developing Mauritius into a modern nation and the strategy to develop Mauritius as a
business hub for the region, all the sectors within Mauritius must work together.
Upon completion of Phase I,
the launching of the National Information Technology Strategy Plan (NITSP) Phase II
programme gathered a large number of IT professionals from various institutions into six
working groups to elaborate National IT Strategy Plan for the next 3 to 7 years based on
the SHOCKING framework. The working groups recommended detailed Strategic Action Programmes (SAPs) and the following are
highlights of some of the key strategic actions:
- Standards and Practices - To
develop twelve sets of standards and practices to support an effective exploitation of IT
in the Civil Service and to set up an appropriate institution to ensure their uniform
enforcement and maintenance.
- Human Resource - To enhance
the physical and faculty capacities of the existing IT tertiary institutions and to set up
new institutions to achieve a five-fold increase of the IT professional pool within seven
years and to set critical IT skill development centres.
- Organisation Incentives - To
offer properly managed and targeted incentive schemes to encourage effective IT
exploitation among the SMEs in Mauritius, and to develop promising local companies to
boost export of IT services.
- Civil Service Computerisation - During
the next stage of planning, an IT master plan for key ministries will be developed and
endorsement of government will be sought for implementation. For the success of this
programme, leadership will have to come from various respective ministries.
- Key Drivers - A critical mass
of key drivers will have to be formed as soon as possible to implement the Strategic
Action Programmes developed during Phase II and to carry out the next phase of planning
and implementation.
- IT Industry - Government will
need to drive an accelerated growth of the IT sector by promoting its effective
exploitation in the Civil Service, by developing inter-sector and intra-sector IT
applications and by the setting up of a modern Software Technology Park (or Knowledge
Park).
- National IT Applications:
- Government Information
Infrastructure (GII). To set up the proposed GII system for three pilot ministries by
the year 1999, extend the programme to all ministries and government organisations by the
year 2005, and integrate public services through GII to meet the objective of bringing the
Government closer to people.
- Mauritius National Identity Card
(MNIC). To set up a Central Population Data Hub by the year 1999, to produce and
introduce smart card-based new National Identity Card by the year 2001, and develop
government applications for an effective exploitation of the new ID card.
The following recommendations were
considered essential for the success of the NITSP:
- To seek endorsement by the NITC of
the recommended Strategic Action Programmes.
- To seek the Government’s
approval of the proposed budget for the implementation of the SAPs.
- To implement a number of ‘Quick
Hit’ projects identified in the report to create greater impact of the NITSP.
- To set up the necessary
institutional structure to coordinate and evaluate the implementation of the Strategic
Action Programmes and continue to develop the next phase of action programmes.
- To identify, recruit and develop a
critical mass of key drivers to assume the responsibilities of Civil Service
Computerisation Programme and National IT Application Programme.
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ICT Partners and Projects
IT COACH PROJECT
Objective
The IT Coach Project (Cyber
Caravan) aims at making IT facilities available even in the most isolated areas of
Mauritius. Computer training will be provided to the community, in schools, and at the
work place.
Description
The IT Coach will be equipped with
some 10 PCs connected to the Internet, that can be used as a classroom. The IT Coach is
fully equipped to provide state-of-the-art training at any site with a minimum of
disruption to other activities. Initially, the IT Coach will serve schools, community
centres and the public at large.
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