Mauritius Free Internet

The Mauritian minister of Information and Communication Technology, Asraf Dulull, on Wednesday unveiled the Community Empowerment Programme (CEP) which aims “to set up an Internet Café in each youth centre throughout the island in order to democratise the population’s free access to internet.” Speaking at the Youth Centre in Plaine Verte in the Mauritian capital Port Louis, Dulull declared that by the end of November some 22 youth centres will already have an internet cafes equipped with five NetPCs. Youth educators of the centres will receive training in order to be able to guide those using the computers, he observed. Dulull further declared that the initiative to set up cybercafés is in line with the government’s policy to make information technology accessible to all sections of the population. He however noted that the government also expects the active participation of the private sector and NGOs. "IT knowledge has become a must as it will become one of the pillars of the Mauritian economy and our objective is to assure that every Mauritian participates and contributes to the sector in order to reduce poverty in the island," stated Minister Dulull. The Chief Executive Officer of MT, Sarat Lallah, said his company has decided to equip the youth centres with the NetPCs as they are "hassle-free," adding that the repairs and updating of the software will be carried out by MT. Dulull said the plan is an initiative of the National Computer Board and the Ministry of Youth and Sports which have been working in close collaboration with the American company Microsoft and Mauritius Telecom. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is financing the project.