Press Communiqué on Broadband Wireless Access Services in Mauritius

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority today held an Open House Session on Spectrum Allocation for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) Services in Mauritius. The session which took place at the Media Trust in Port Louis, is part of a consultation exercise which was launched earlier this year with a view to making a determination on the frequency bands to be allocated to broadband wireless access services taking into consideration the demand amongst operators for these bands.

The Executive Director of the ICTA, Dr Krishna Oolun, said the move by the Authority falls well within the realities of a newly liberalized telecommunications market with an increasing number of operators expressing interest in BWA and in line with the Government policy as spelt out in the National Telecommunication Policy (NTP).

On 14th February 2005, the ICTA produced a public consultation document on “Spectrum Allocation for Broadband Fixed Wireless Access Services in Mauritius.”

This public consultation exercise ended on March 14th, 2005. Thirteen companies and organisations, from Mauritius and abroad, had sent in their contributions, which have since been examined by the Authority.

During today’s session, the ICTA’s Director of Engineering and Licensing, Mr Jérôme Louis, gave a detailed presentation of the Authority’s technical and regulatory proposals with regards to the future use of specific frequency bands for the deployment of BWA. The proposals from the Authority are hinged on standards as set by the International Telecommunication Union, (ITU) and have taken into consideration the global trends in respect of the demand for BWA spectrum.

The Authority believes that the latest exercise in spectrum allocation is bound to benefit consumers as it will increase the variety of services offered to end users. As such the proposals for allocation of BWA spectrum have paid due consideration to stakeholders’ response to the consultation document of February 2005.

Operators now have a week to send any additional comments to the Authority following today’s Open House Session. The Authority will deliberate and make its final determination on the basis of comments made today and over the coming week.

The Powerpoint presentation can be consulted on the ICTA’s website