ICT access according to latest figures issued by Mauritius Statistics has greatly improved. Between 2010 and 2011, ICT access has increased in numerous services

Rises have been noted in the number of mobile cellular phone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants from 92.8 to 100.4; in the number of internet subscriptions per 100 inhabitants from 22.1 to 28.7; in the proportion of households with a computer: 37.5% (2011) and in the proportion
of households with internet access at home: 27.9% (2011).The number of fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants however decreased marginally from 30.2 to 29.1.In terms if the ICT quality, the international internet bandwidth increased from 2641.4 to 4505.4 bits per inhabitant.Trade in ICT goods declined from 2010 to 2011 whereby imports decreased by 6% from R 6,808 million to R 6,385 million and exports including re-exports have declined significantly by around 47% from R 675 million to R 358 million.

However trade in ICT services flourished with imports that have risen by 30% from R 1,929 million to R 2,514 million and exports improved by 48% from R 3,128 million to R 4,630 million.

Contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The ICT sector comprises ICT-related activities in Manufacturing, Telecommunications, Wholesale and Retail Trade, and Business Services such as call centres, software development and website development.

The value added of the ICT sector rose by around 12% from R 17,036 million in 2010 to R 19,004 million in 2011 leading to an increased share in GDP from 6.4% to 6.7%.

Around 43% of value added of the ICT sector in 2011 was generated by activities of Telecommunications and 11% by Wholesale and Retail Trade.

Employment

Employment in large establishments (employing 10 or more persons) operating in the ICT sector increased by around 2% from 12,826 in 2010 to 13,116 in 2011.

ICT Development Index (IDI)

Mauritius made progress towards becoming an information society from 2010 to 2011. The ICT Development Index (IDI) for the country, which ranges from 0 (lowest ICT development) to 10 (highest ICT development), has improved from 4.00 in 2010 to 4.37 in 2011.

Latest IDI figures compiled by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) are available by country for 2010. According to these figures, Mauritius ranked 69th among 152 countries in 2010 in terms of ICT development while Korea (IDI of 8.40) ranked first.