Regulation should be the exception and competition the rule if all a country`s citizens are to benefit from technology, says Mauritius`s minister of IT and telecommunications.
Minister Deelchand Jeeha was named the overall individual winner of the African ICT Achievers Awards at a banquet in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Jeeha has played a key role in the liberalisation of Mauritius`s telecommunications market.
The country has licensed a second network operator, Mahangar Telephone, to compete with Mauritius Telecom, and has also liberalised its Internet service provider market, which now boasts several competitors.
Internet telephony was introduced last year and this year a new national telecommunications policy was introduced to prepare for the convergence of IT, media, telecommunications and consumer electronics.
The country is also in the process of introducing a 3G cellular network.
Jeeha says the Mauritian government wants all its citizens to benefit from ICT, and not just the regulator or an incumbent service provider.
"Africa has big potential," he says. "It only needs opportunity, and that must come from the private sector, the donor community and government - all stakeholders."
He says if all stakeholders come together they can create a common pool for Africa to create a wireless backbone. This could be done on the back of wireless local loops, which would not prove costly to establish.
Roy Padayachie, SA`s deputy minister of communications, said SA had been rocketed into the new information society, but it had to be asked whether the benefits were reaching the majority of people.
The challenge lay in translating SA`s new democracy into water, bread, houses and jobs, and ICT had an enabling role. "ICT companies, together with governments, have a central role to play in this process," he added.
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