Mauritius offers free mobile Internet to youth

Mauritius has launched a program providing free mobile Internet to 18 to 25-year-olds to prepare the country's youth for a digital future.

Part of Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth's 2024-2025 budget, the program came into effect on September 1, 2024, and will be managed by the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA).

According to a statement, the scheme will target over 100,000 people in the 18-to-25 age bracket, and eligible youth must register via the MRA website and submit their National Identity Card Number and mobile phone number.

Once their application is approved, they can get free, renewable monthly data from any of the country's three mobile operators, Mauritius Telecom mobile unit My.t Mobile, Emtel, and Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius Limited's mobile unit Chili Mauritius.

"To get free Internet access and remain connected, young people would receive a monthly package of 200GB working both on 4G and 5G networks," the prime minister said.

Furthermore, eligible youth will also have access to the country's 350 Wi-Fi hotspots.

Launching the scheme, Jugnauth said the goal was to enable young people to thrive and reach their full potential in a modern digital world by providing access to digital tools, platforms, information, and online educational resources, as well as assisting them in finding employment in the IT sector.

Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth. (Source: Mauritius Government)

The prime minister added that the initiative would bring positive results since the Internet was an indispensable tool that promoted innovation, productivity, efficiency and creativity. However, he cautioned young people on the misuse of the Internet, citing that while it might be a useful tool, it also comes with risks, hence the necessity to navigate it safely and be respectful.

Mauritius mobile ecosystem

This initiative will involve all of the country's telecommunication providers. According to statistics from market research company Omdia, a sister company of Connecting Africa, Mauritius has three telcos: My.t Mobile, Emtel and Chili Mauritius.

Omdia reports that My.t Mobile had an estimated 1.2 million mobile users at the end of the second quarter of 2024. Emtel had just 481,000 mobile users over the same period, while Chili Mauritius had 425,000 mobile users.

It will be interesting to see how supplying young people with free Internet to young people will impact the country's Internet penetration. Statistics from data platform DataReportal, show that the country had 983,000 Internet users at the start of 2024, with the Internet penetration rate of 75.5%.

Mauritius has a population of 1.30 million, and Kepios analysis indicates that Internet users increased by 1,140, or 0.1%, between January 2023 and January 2024.

Kepios further noted that the figures reveal that 320,000 million people in Mauritius did not use the Internet at the start of 2024, suggesting that 25% of the population remained offline.

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa