Mauritius - With the declining cost of bandwidth and competition on international routes prices are expected to fall

[defimedia] Minister Tassarajen Chedumbrum Pillay made this declaration to Radio Plus last week. He explained that the price for the exploitation of bandwidths has “reduced considerably” and that Mauritius Telecom (MT) has no monopoly anymore. At present, Emtel offers a decrease of up to 44% to corporates.

“Before, it was mandatory for operators to buy bandwidths from MT but this is not the case anymore. They can buy the bandwidths from foreign operators,” he said.
He pointed out that this decrease was possible thanks to the Government’s policy to open access to underwater cables.

“We have circulated documents in this regard to the Cabinet on October 15, 2010. Hence, we have been able to bring a significant reform in ICT in the country. As a result, Emtel now buys bandwidths which are not used by MT. This also implies that it can afford to offer a much more competitive rate. For the time being, it is only corporates which are benefitting from this decrease. For example, the price offered by Emtel for an Internet subscription at the rate of 256 kbps is Rs 15,000 instead of Rs 27,000 at Telecom Plus, which represents a difference of 44%. The connection of 512 kbps cost Rs 30,000 at Emtel which also offers a subscription at the rate of 1 megabyte is at Rs 40,000 while the same is at Rs 65,000 at Telecom Plus. As for a subscription with the capacity of 2 megabytes, Emtel offers the service at Rs 60,000 while Telecom Plus offers it as Rs 98,900. But as mentioned earlier, it is only corporates which are benefitting from this decrease at the moment at Emtel. The public will be able to enjoy the decrease in the days to come,” he underscored.
As far as the rate of mobile phones is concerned, it has known a decrease of 33% since July 2, 2011. The Interconnection Usage Charge has gone down from 90 cents to 60 cents. This decrease applies to calls made from one operator to another from a mobile, from a landline to a mobile and from a mobile for an international call.
This measure also applies to the communication from a landline to a mobile and from a MT mobile phone to other operators as well as for international calls. However, this decrease in rates does not apply for users of Orange mobile phones who will communicate between themselves. In short, since last Friday, MT mobile users will pay 60 cents instead of 90 cents when calling a user from another operator.

The last review of the rates was carried out in 2004. Presently, the number of landline users has reached 400,000, from 375,000 in 2009 to 387,700 in 2010. The number of mobile users is expected to reach the bar of 1.2 million this year.

Technology news: Internet rates to go down soon