> Congratulations on recently receiving the AISI/IICD award from the United Nations Economic Committee for Africa for your MauritiusPortal.com website. What does it consist of?

The award was given for the media performance of promoting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Africa. In December 2003, a friend, Sailesh, and I started a friendly website gathering news from Mauritius and the rest of world. It grew popular very quickly and, to date, we?ve received 150 000 hits. This award means more hard work to make Mauritius a leader in web development and online media fields. I also hope that it will encourage more people to visit my website. MauritiusPortal.com has been nominated by Highway Africa to promote ICT in the country.

> What is the future for ICT in Mauritius?

The future is bright. The government is trying to promote the cyberisland concept but, if it wants to succeed, it must drastically reduce connection fees for home Internet users. In Europe or Asia, you get the same service for a third of the price you pay here. Last year, government reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) on Internet access but reintroduced it this year.

> What are your plans?

I have a small company called Digital Dimensions geared to promoting ICT in all sorts of ways such as advice on hardware, software and online presence. We design websites for companies for a yearly fee of Rs 1,500 whereas other companies charge up to Rs15,000 monthly! Some local private radio stations have already contacted us because they want to go online. We also distribute the Linux operating system for free on CDs and even send them worldwide. We also design company websites for a very small fee. We welcome anyone who wants to join our team and share ideas.

> Where is Mauritius in the ICT field compared to the rest of Africa?

Mauritius is far ahead of other African countries but we are behind Asia and Europe. The reason we are lagging behind is the high cost of communications here. If we can bring those down so that everyone can afford Internet access, we?ll have gone a long way in catching up. It?s that simple?

Bavesh Baijnath Director of Digital Dimensions