In this context, a number of measures to help boost and attract foreign investment in the ICT sector were announced by the Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Mr. A. Dulull, on February 26 at a press conference in Port Louis.

As from 1st March 2009, Mauritius Telecom is reducing the Internet tariffs, that is, the present ADSL Home 128 kbps with 1 GB volume allowance offer is being migrated to an ADSL 256 kbps with 3 GB volume allowance offer, from Rs 650 to Rs 434, excluding VAT, which is a reduction of 33%.

A 45% decrease will be applied to ADSL Home 512 kbps and regarding ADSL Pro offers of 256 kbps and 512 kbps, a decrease of 15.8% and 15.6% will be applied respectively. There will be a reduction of 14-22% in ADSL Business offers. As for Rodrigues, a reduction of 42% in ADSL Home 128kbps and a reduction of 14% in ADSL Home 256 kbps will be applied.

By the end of this year, Mauritius will connect to SEACOM cable which is a full service provider of international fiber bandwidth along the East Coast of Africa to Southern Africa, Europe and Asia. SEACOM, which will be managed by a consortium including local companies, will provide the country with an added bandwidth of 10gbps on Internet.

The Minister also stated that a Green IT Park will be set up on an area of 132 acres at Flic en Flac. The Park will make use of deep sea water for cooling and air conditioning purposes and the buildings will be designed in such way that they use a maximum of solar energy. Also, since the Park will be set up near Médine Sugar Estate, there is the possibility of using sugar cane bagasse for the production of electricity.

As far as investment in the ICT is concerned, three Indian companies, namely, Reliance Communications Ltd, Omnitech Ltd and Allied Digital Ltd have expressed the interest to invest in the sector. 

Reliance Communications Ltd intends to invest Rs 630 million and to operate an island-wide broadband Wi-Max facility. Omnitech Ltd proposes to set up a disaster recovery/business continuity centre to serve both the local and global markets and plans to invest Rs 150 million in the medium term. Allied Digital Ltd, for its part, has expressed the interest to set up an IT infrastructure outsourcing facility with an estimated investment of Rs 300 million.