Draft Speech of Honourable Tassarajen Pillay Chedumbrum, Minister of Information and Communication technology Event: Emtel Knowledge Series Workshop Improving business performance: Adoption of Innovative Technologies Date: 11 th February 2014 Time: 09:30 Venue: Cyber Tower, Ebene Cybercity Mr. Kim Andersen, CXO Consultant, South Africa and Chief Information Officer, Ovum Mr. Bashir Currimjee, Chairman Emtel Mr. Shyam Roy, CEO Emtel Mrs. Drudeisha Madhub, Data Protection Commissioner Mr. Suraj Ramgoolam, Chairman of NCB
Mr. Dan Faugoo, Executive Director NCB Mr. Trilok Dwarka, Chairman of ICTA Dr. Krishna Oolun, Executive Director, ICTA Mr. Hawabhay, Ag. Director, CIB, Members of the Press, Distinguised guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning. It is an honour for me to be present here at the opening ceremony of this first ever Knowledge series workshop organized by EMTEL in collaboration with the Ministry of ICT.
Let me at the very outset congratulate Emtel, not only for this laudable initiative, but for the remarkable work it has accomplished in this country since its very beginnings in 1989, when it became the first mobile telephony operator in the Southern Hemisphere. More recently, we were most pleased to note Emtel s significant contribution to enhancing the 4G landscape in Mauritius as well as its productive participation in the Intelligent Mauritius Partnership Programme.
And, given Emtel s consistent track record throughout, we have no doubt that it will meet its responsibility towards the recent budget measures regarding Fibre-to-the-Home. As part of upcoming policy on issues of poor network coverage in some parts of the island, we are also confident that Emtel will offer its whole-hearted participation. Today, as Emtel inaugurates its Knowledge Series Workshop, I must commend the efforts of this company to meet its responsibility towards information and knowledge in the sector. This falls in line with the Ministry s own concern with providing a constant flow of information and knowledge to ICT
stakeholders as well as the general public. Emtel s Knowledge Series Workshop, aimed at creating a discussion forum for building ICT infrastructures and capacities for Mauritian Business systems, is certainly an initiative that we applaud. Ladies and Gentlemen, The Knowledge Series workshop comes at the right moment to give an impetus to the actions already being undertaken by the Mauritian Government, in trying to improve business performances through adoption of innovative technology.
The value of research, knowledge-sharing and exchange of ideas here cannot be overlooked. There is a growing amount of research that aims at bringing out the critical role of information and communication technologies (ICT) and innovative technologies, in improving business performances. Indeed new technology can not only speed processes up or allow flexible new ways of working but can transform how your business functions and can often save your time and money. In this regard, I would particularly like to commend Emtel s initiative to bring some of the most salient issues in ICT to the
forefront. Today, issues such as cloud computing, fibre to the home, data centres and disaster recovery, and IPv6. - Cloud Solutions, for instance, is one of the most pressing topics in the field today. Until now, there seems to be a resistance to adopting new technologies like cloud computing. This is because people have a tendency to think that their data is safe and sound in servers. The fact is, as the experts know, that cloud computing is actually a safer, more secure and reliable means of storing data. The added benefit is also that cloud computing, using cloud technologies rather than physical infrastructure, greatly
helps to reduce the carbon footprint of IT technologies, and moves us forward in the Green ICT project. - With FTTH, we are able to move from simply providing an internet connection to providing quality technology to the whole population. The only way to have BOTH accessibility and quality technology and service is to make the move from traditional copper cabling to fibre technology. As it stands today, MT and Bharat Telecom are already well under way in setting up their fibre connections to the home throughout the island. And, I know that Emtel was experiencing some administrative setbacks in their own FTTH deployment, but I have also been informed that these
setbacks have been resolved and Emtel is also in phase of setting up its fibre optic network. - I also commend Emtel for choosing to place the Data Centre and Disaster recovery services at the center of discussions. Ladies and gentlemen, as you are aware, one of the objectives of Government, as part of its strategy to make Mauritius into a regional ICT hub, is to position Mauritius as a Data Centre and Disaster Recovery destination on the regional and why not the global scale. The strategic positioning of Mauritius in the region is key we must be able to use this positioning, as well as our relations with world superpowers, in order to capitalize on Mauritius s ICT
resources and potential. We must also be able to move from traditional areas like BPO/call centres to value-added services like a Data Centre and Disaster Recovery services. In this respect, we welcome Emtel s initiative to set up their own Tier 3 Data Centre and we look forward to a future partnership with Emtel. Given Government s own needs in terms of cloud computing services, we are aware that an even closer private-public partnership with partners like Emtel is essential, for e.g. for the hosting of cloud services. - IPv6 is another area that deserves to be acknowledged. After years of rapid Internet expansion, the pool of available IP addresses, known as IPv4, has been fully
allocated to users. That s why we need IPv6, the next generation of the Internet protocol that has a massively bigger address space than IPv4. Under IPv4 capacity, we were only able to cater for 4.3 billion IP addresses. For this reason, because let us remember that Gouverner, c est prévoir, the ICTA has already migrated to IPv6 and I strongly encourage operators to follow suit. Ladies and gentlemen, let us remember that the entire purpose of workshops such as these, of sharing knowledge amongst stakeholders, is so that we can improve the quality of goods and services on offer.
We must strive to produce quality services and products and low-cost solutions for our consumers and citizens. Accessibility should not be our only objective we must also ensure affordability of products and services across the board. The fact, ladies and gentlemen, is that any business has both a corporate and a social responsibility. We are not just catering for our consumer bases, in the end we are also responsible for our citizens. This is a project on which private and public sectors must work together.
In this sense, we must be able to use ICT to help address global challenges, such as climate change and sustainable development. Indeed Green IT or Green Solutions are concepts and alternatives that this government has identified and embraced. This government ladies and gentlemen, has recognized that innovation is needed, it s a MUST yes, BUT not at the cost of our environment and ecosystem of our island. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am particularly happy today to be able to associate ourselves to Emtel s initiative. At the level of Government, we have taken the lead in recognizing that there is this need for continued knowledge-sharing in the ICT sector. Our government also shares this vision of adopting new technologies
to improve business performances and has thus defined a road map and is investing heavily and is sparing no effort to grow and expand the ICT sector in Mauritius. Our government, ladies and gentlemen, has developed a vision to articulate to the nation, created a road map with measurable goals and incentives to reach them and commits to it. Indeed Ladies and Gentlemen, our government is working towards making Mauritius a country that has nothing to envy of great nations. Our government supports and catalyzes this need for digital transformation and encourages players in the business sector to make digital transformation a priority.
As you can all see, distinguished Guests, this Government has vowed to make Mauritius a key ICT investment destination as well as ICT island, branded as I-Mauritius. This Government has a digital vision to continue to provide the best quality products and services for its citizens, to make ICT into one of the biggest GDP contributors in this economy, and will foster and strength regional and international cooperation trade needed to drive this sector forward. Ladies and Gentlemen, in this endeavor, we are happy and honoured that Emtel has associated itself with the Ministry of ICT and this government in its vision to Promote ICT and propel ICT as a prime pillar of the economy.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me once again to congratulate Emtel for this initiative of the Knowledge series workshop, which I believe will be a quarterly event. It is on this note that I declare the first ever Knowledge series Workshop 2014 officially open. Thank you for your kind attention and have a fruitful working session!