Bharat Telecom Ready to Turn Up FTTH Network in Mauritius

CYBERCITY, MAURITIUS - Mauritius, an island republic in the Indian Ocean, was once known as the home of the dodo, a flightless bird quickly made extinct by the European explorers who discovered it. Now, the country is about to take flight with a new technology unlikely to become extinct any time soon. Bharat Telecom Ltd (BTL), a private company incorporated in 2010 to provide fiber-to-the-home services to Mauritian households, is about to turn up its new GEPON network, which began construction in 2011. The company will offer high-speed broadband and IPTV and expects to attract other providers to provide services such as gaming and over-the-top video over the network.

Baljinder Sharma, director at BTL, says the company's vision is to connect every home and office in the country with fiber. Though the project had some delays at the outset, BTL now expects to provide on-demand fiber connections to the large majority of homes over the next 18 months and to the rest of the country by the end of 2013. Fiber connections are now being tested in three locations.

BTL is using both underground and aerial construction, and will make use of horizontal directional drilling to avoid the need for road excavation.

Based on its experience and customer feedback in Mauritius, BTL hopes to enter five more African countries in the next 18 to 24 months.