History
In 1883, basic telephony was introduced in Mauritius, only seven years after the invention of the telephone. The first telephone line was set up between the Colony Governor's residence in Reduit and Government House in Port Louis. The telephone network was maintained by the Electricity and Telephone Department till 1956. From that date, the telecommunications department took that responsibility.
In 1893, Mauritius was linked to Zanzibar via a sub-marine telegraphic cable followed by Rodrigues in 1901.
Before the independence of the country and till 1985, international communications were managed by Cable and Wireless, a private British company. From 1985, Overseas Telecommunications Services, which subsequently became Mauritius Telecom Limited took over.
The Central Information Systems Division (CISD), formerly known as Data Processing Division (DPD), was created in 1971. The CISD nowadays is responsible for government payroll IT systems, government email, maintenance of all government/departmental websites and technical support.
In 1987, a second standard B earth station and a domestic satellite network were installed with Rodrigues and the Outer Islands. That same year, a X.25 Packet Switched data exchange was also installed.
In July 1988, the state-owned Department of Telecommunications was privatised to become the Mauritius Telecommunications Services (MTS). With privatisation, national and international activities were merged to form Mauritius Telecom Ltd.
The 1988 Telecommunications Act established the legal framework to cater for telecom services in a state-owned monopoly.
The National Computer Board (NCB) was also set up in 1988 by the National Board Act (No 43) to advise the Government on the formulation of national policies for the development of the IT sector and promote an IT culture in the country.
In 1989, the Central Informatics Bureau (CIB) was created whose main functions were to plan and coordinate computerization within the Civil Service.
The State Informatics Limited was also set up in 1989 initially to help in the computerization of the Civil Service.
By 1997, the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications was created to formulate and implement policies regarding the development of the ICT sector. The CISD and CIB became departments within this new ministry.
However, following the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) at the WTO, the 1988 Telecommunications Act was replaced with by the Telecommunications Act of 1998 which provided the legal framework to enable the emergence of a free and democratised telecommunications market on the island. This act also created the Mauritius Telecommunications Authority (MTA) as a regulatory body for the telecommunications sector.
With the development of Information and Communications Technologies, the Telecommunications Act of 1998 was replaced by the Information and Communication Technologies Act of 2001. The MTA was subsequently replaced by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA).
Read more about this topic: Communications In Mauritius
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