Mauritius, long known only as a prime holiday destination, is now also being recognised as a booming technology centre.
The island has finalists in two categories in the African ICT Achievers Awards - IT and telecommunications minister Deelchand Jeeha and the Internet Society of Mauritius.
The awards are to be handed out at a ceremony in Johannesburg this weekend. Jeeha is in the running for the award for top African minister with an ICT portfolio.
During Jeeha`s tenure, Mauritius has, among other things, built a cyber city and ICT business park, provided computer literacy courses to citizens and created an incubation programme for ICT start-ups.
By March 2005, it is expected that e-government will be a reality in the country, allowing Mauritians to interact with their government via the Internet.
The cyber city, 15km outside capital Port Louis, has as its centrepiece the 12-storey Cyber Tower.
The Cyber Tower is an "intelligent building" with advanced telecommunication facilities enabling ICT-related facilities including software and multimedia development; software and hardware design, development and support; hosting of Internet and application service providers; and ICT-enabled services.
The cyber city has, among others, a business zone hosting a number of office developments, a knowledge zone with several educational institutions, a residential village, a commercial centre and several government administrative headquarters.
Liberalisation
Jeeha has also introduced laws aimed at growing the ICT sector. In 2001 a policy paper was drafted to liberalise the Internet service provider market, which now boasts several competitors. The liberalisation of the telecommunications sector led to the licensing of a second network operator.
Internet telephony was introduced officially last year, followed by a new National Telecommunications Policy to prepare for the convergence of IT, media, telecommunications and consumer electronics.
The Internet Society of Mauritius is a non-profit organisation with 120 active members - all of whom are volunteers.
The society helps serve the needs of the global Internet community through involvement in organisations such as Unesco`s Information for All, and also raises awareness of the Internet in remote Mauritian villages through initiation workshops and Internet-based courses.
Founder and president Dave Kissoondoyal is represented on five working groups of the United Nations ICT Task Force and is a member of the African Stakeholders` Network.
The society is a finalist for the civil society award for bridging the digital divide in Africa.
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