From left: Sherry Singh, CEO of Mauritius Telecom; Deepak Balgobin, Minister of Information Technology Communication and Innovation; Pravind Jugnauth, Prime Minister.

Market analysts and the government of Mauritius have lauded Mauritius Telecoms for the roll out of 1Gbps internet connectivity, launched in September in Pailles.

They have described the development as another technology milestone, with the island nation now officially part of the gigabit era.

As Mauritius Telecom’s flagship offer, Home Internet and TV 1 Gbps was unveiled for its residential fibre subscribers.

The new offering is expected to add value to customers, especially those who download large files or make use of streaming and gaming services.

It also includes all my.t TV channels (over 100 channels), 3 Wi-Fi Extenders and unlimited calls from a landline to other landlines on the Mauritius Telecom network.

Mauritius Telecom CEO Sherry Singh said that it was essential for Mauritius Telecom to adapt its offerings to meet the needs of its customers. “Expectations have changed. Each family, each person is different, with different needs and it is our job to adapt. Today customers are looking for entertainment, bandwidth and connectivity as a one stop shop,” he said.

According to the company, it is not only the fastest internet in Mauritius, but places Mauritius as the second African country after South Africa to offer a speed of 1 Gbps.

The company noted several milestones that Mauritius has attained in developing its telecommunications and progressing on its digital transformation journey. These include: 100% fibre coverage at the end of 2017, that 315,000 homes are already connected to the broadband network through fibre, and in 2016, Mauritius became the first country in Africa to offer 100 Mbps speed to its residential subscribers, and is said to be the 8th most fibre-based country globally.

Earlier this month ITWeb Africa reported on new research by Cable UK, which stated that the DRC, Libya, Mauritania and Tunisia are among countries with the slowest broadband internet speeds, while North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa are ranked bottom of table for connectivity speeds.

In a regional ranking, incorporating 224 countries, North Africa was judged to have the slowest average internet connection speeds at 5.6Mbps. In this region, Mauritania, in 203rd position, has broadband speeds of 2.54Mbps for the year period to the end of June, followed by Algeria at 3.08Mbps.