As of December 2021, the internet penetration rate was about 43% in Africa, according to the Internet Society. Some of the covered population do not even have access to quality internet. Nevertheless, telecom operators are beefing up their broadband infrastructure to better address this.

Mauritius Telecom, the largest Internet service provider and cellular service distributor in Mauritius, announced on Friday, March 24, that it has laid the T3 fiber optic submarine cable in Mauritius. The first end of the new infrastructure landed on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at the Baie-du-Jacotet landing station in the Bel Ombre region. The other end will land later this year in Amanzimtoti, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.

"With the rapid adoption of applications and services such as cloud computing, connected objects, video streaming, and others, it was essential for Mauritius Telecom to put in place the required infrastructure and capacity," said Kapil Resaul, CEO of Mauritius Telecom.

The 3,200 km long T3 cable has a capacity of 18 terabits per second, providing Mauritius Telecom with a more reliable, robust, and redundant network. It is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2023 and has an estimated lifespan of 25 years. 

T3 is a partial takeover of the IOX submarine cable project that was to connect Mauritius to South Africa and India. First announced in 2017, it was abandoned in 2019. It will therefore join Mauritius Telecom's existing submarine cables, namely South Africa Far East (SAFE) and Lower Indian Ocean Network (LION), commissioned in 2002 and 2009 respectively.

Let’s note that Mauritius Telecom is 40% owned by Orange SA through Rimcom Ltd. Its remaining shareholders are the Mauritius government ( over 30%) and the local bank SBM (about 19%).

Samira Njoya