ICT Statistics Year 2016
Highlights
ICT access
Between 2015 and 2016, ICT access improved in the country as indicated by the following:
· number of mobile cellular phone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants from 139.5 to 143.6;
· number of internet subscriptions per 100 inhabitants from 66.6 to 86.3; and
· number of fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants from 30.1 to 30.8.
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ICT quality
The international internet bandwidth per inhabitant increased from 16,870 in 2015 to 33,628 bits per second in 2016.
External trade
Trade in ICT goods decreased from 2015 to 2016 as follows:
· Imports by 29.2% from Rs 17,410 million to Rs 12,325 million; and
· Exports, including re-exports by 61.9% from Rs 11,123 million to Rs 4,243 million.
Decreases in both imports and exports of ICT goods are mainly due to lower imports and exports (including re-exports) of Cellular Mobile phones.
Trade in ICT services from 2015 to 2016 were as follows:
· Imports decreased by 10.1% from Rs 2,921 million to Rs 2,625 million; while
· Exports increased by 0.5% from Rs 5,423 million to Rs 5,449 million.
Contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
The ICT sector comprises manufacturing activities, telecommunications services, wholesale and retail trade, and other activities such as call centres, software development and website development and hosting, multimedia, IT consulting and disaster recovery. The value added of ICT sector rose by 3.9% from Rs 21,137 million in 2015 to Rs 21,956 million in 2016. The share of ICT sector in GDP in 2016 was 5.7%, slightly lower than 5.8% in 2015. Around 50% of value added of the ICT sector in 2016 was generated by activities of telecommunications, 15% by wholesale and retail trade and 35% by the remaining activities such as manufacturing, call centres, software development and website development.
Employment
Employment in large establishments (employing 10 or more persons) operating in ICT sector increased by 2.6% from 15,006 in 2015 to 15,390 in 2016.
ICT Development Index (IDI)
The ICT Development Index (IDI) of the country, which ranges from 0 (lowest ICT development) to 10 (highest ICT development) improved from 5.79 in 2015 to 6.20 in 2016. In 2016, according to the International Telecommunication Union, among 175 countries, Mauritius ranked 73rd, same as in 2015, while Republic of Korea, with an IDI of 8.84, ranked first. It is to be noted that Mauritius ranked highest among African countries.
