The island nation of Mauritius has long been a pioneer in the telecom sector. It was the first market in the greater Africa region to launch mobile telecom networks (in 1989), the first to provide a 3G service (2004), the first in the world to develop a nationwide WiMAX wireless broadband network (2005), and one of the first to launch IPTV services (2006).
LTE and fibre broadband services are nationally available, while the government has also supported the building of a national Wi-Fi network. International cable connectivity has improved considerably in recent years, which has increased bandwidth capacity significantly. The landing of the METISS cable, providing connectivity to South Africa and on to other cable systems, was made in June 2020.
The incumbent telco Mauritius Telecom has been partially privatised and benefits from the scale and technical prowess of Orange Group, which holds a 40% interest in the operator. All sectors of the market are open to competition.
Mauritius is successfully pursuing a policy to make telecommunications a pillar of economic growth, and to have a fully digital-based infrastructure,
The mobile market has effective competition from the three MNOs Mauritius Telecom, Emtel, and Mahanagar. These operators have steadily increased the reach of their LTE infrastructure to support growing demand for mobile data services.
In the broadband sector there is continuing progress in developing FttC and FttP rollouts. Mauritius Telecom has invested more than Rs5 billion to fast-track national FttP deployment.
BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries.
On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.
Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.
The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.
Key developments:
- METISS cable makes landing in Mauritius;
- Mauritius Telecom completes national LTE and fibre network reach;
- Mauritius signs MoU with Estonia to develop ICTs;
- Government makes progress with its 'Wi-Fi Mauritius' program;
- Government unveils Smart Mauritius program;
- National Broadband Policy aiming for 100Mb/s availability nationally by end-2020;
- Report update includes telcos' operating data for 2018, regulator's market data to June 2020, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, recent market developments.
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Developing Telecoms market report summaries are produced in partnership with BuddeCom, the world’s largest continually updated online telecommunications research service.
The above article is a summary of the following BuddeCom report:
Report title: Mauritius - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses
Edition: October 2020
Analyst: Henry Lancaster
Number of pages: 98
Companies mentioned in the report: Mauritius Telecom, Mahanagar Telephone (Mauritius) (MTNL), Emtel (Millicom, Currimjee Jeewanjee, Bharti Airtel), Bharat Telecom, Network Plus, DCL Internet, Outremer Telecom.
Single User PDF Licence Price: US$750
For more information or to purchase a copy of the full report please use the following link: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Mauritius-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses/?r=83
