‘Mauritius has high expectations for 5G mobile networks as growth and innovation engines. The country looks forward to the potential of the 4.0 Industry in terms of digital health, Smart City, transport, and logistics. It is however necessary to exert vigilance in the face of digital omnipresence in our social setup and within all economic spheres’, said the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, yesterday, during the inauguration ceremony of the 20th session of FRATEL’s Annual Meeting, at the InterContinental Mauritius Resort, in Balaclava.
The Minister of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation, Mr Darsanand Balgobin; the Director of the Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation, and 2022 President of FRATEL, Mr Luc Tapella; the chairman of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA), Mr Dick Christophe Ng Sui Wa; and other personalities were also present.
In his address, the Prime Minister highlighted that Government is conscious of the major challenges of public regulation related to Information and Communication Technology within the society. The consolidation of the existing legal framework bears testimony to the importance that we attach to the protection of critical information infrastructures, Mr Jugnauth emphasised. He thus recalled that a new legal framework for ICT has been introduced to better adapt our legislations and our practices to the environment of the telecommunications sector.
Speaking about the first-time election of Mauritius to the Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the African region, the Prime Minister reassured that the country is fully committed to make the expectations of African countries and of Small Island States heard within the ITU.
Mr Jugnauth likewise highlighted the ambition of Mauritius to position itself as a country engaged in outer space activities despite the challenges. In June 2021, the Republic of Mauritius had launched its first Nano Satellite into space from the International Space Station, and the project was materialised following a collaboration between Mauritius, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, he remarked.
The Nano Satellite enabled to collect maritime and meteorological data of Mauritius’s EEZ and based on this innovative experience which necessitated the support of the regulator, ICTA, in terms of frequency allocation we want to go even further, he pointed out. Since the last World Radiocommunication Conference held in 2019 in Egypt, ICTA is aiming to provide the country with new orbital slots which will be able to accommodate in a near future the first geostationary satellite of Mauritius, he indicated
The Prime Minister also extended his support to ICTA so that it can attain its objectives in terms of frequency distribution across the country. The radio frequency spectrum constitutes a public good and should be efficiently used, he stated.
Prime Minister Jugnauth additionally lauded ICTA’s contribution in the liberalisation of the ICT sector and the introduction of new technologies. ICTA, he observed, has introduced competition in fixed telephony, mobile and internet services with advantageous tariffs for citizens. ICTA has, over the past 20 years, facilitated the introduction of successive generations of mobile technology which recently culminated with the advent of 5G mobile technologies, he added.
FRATEL is a Francophone network of telecommunications regulators and is holding its two-day Annual Meeting in Mauritius. The event’s theme is “Challenges and Ways to Improve Resilience and Security of Telecommunications Networks.” Around 75 delegates coming from 20 countries namely: Congo Brazzaville, Ethiopia, France, Luxembourg, Morocco and Senegal, are participation. Forty telecommunications regulators are also in attendance.
