Emtel Ltd. is a

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

company based in Ebene City,

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

. Launched on 29 May 1989 – Emtel Ltd became the first mobile telephony operator in the Southern Hemisphere. This took place under the aegis of The Currimjee Jeewanjee Group. Since 27 April 2015, Emtel holds a partnership with

Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Current ...

, Indian provider of prepaid & postpaid, wireless internet, broadband, fixed line, digital TV and mobile services. In 1999, Emtel launched its GSM service offerings, three years after its competitor mainly because of exclusive rights allocated to Cellplus Ltd to operate GSM technology in Mauritius. As such, Emtel experienced a significant decline in market share at the end of the 1990s. In August 2017, Emtel won its long going legal case against the ICTA/MT/Cellplus. The Supreme Court of Mauritius ruled exclusive rights to Cellplus as unfair competition and defendants should compensate Emtel Ltd Rs 554,190,000. The company now supplies a range of telecommunication services. In November 2004, Emtel became the first company in Africa to launch 3G/UMTS services. In May 2012, following its 23rd anniversary, Emtel launched 4G TEand became the first fully operational LTE provider in Mauritius. The company now operates

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

, GPRS, 3G/UMTS as well as 3.5G/

HSDPA High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols—High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)—that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunic ...

, 4G/ TEand

WIMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a family of wireless broadband communication standards based on the IEEE 802.16 set of standards, which provide physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) options. The WiMAX ...

networks. Emtel also offers Internet and international connectivity via undersea Optical fibre and Data Centre Services. In June 2015, Emtel launched the first Fibre Through The Air (FTTA) of the region.

Timeline

* 1989 29 May, Emtel became the first mobile telephony operation in the Southern Hemisphere, as a result of collaboration between the Currimjee Jeewanjee Group and Millicom International Cellular (MIC) S.A.. * 1995 Emtel was one of the founders of Bharti Cellular Ltd with the first Indian GSM network in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

* 1996 Introduction of

international roaming Roaming is a wireless telecommunication term typically used with mobile devices, such as mobile phones. It refers to a mobile phone being used outside the range of its native network and connecting to another available cell network. Technical ...

in Mauritius * 1998 Emtel was the first company to introduce a prepaid system for its customers * 1999 Emtel introduces new modes of communications with SMS, mobile

email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...

and 6-party conferencing. * 2000 Emtel was the first to introduce the Short Message Service (SMS) * 2002 introduction of SMS-based information provision and the launch of the first mobile internet portal in Mauritius bringing interaction between web and cellular phone. * 2003 Emtel service, JukeBox 135 allows the Emtel subscriber to listen and dedicate songs to any other telephone number. The company also launched the roaming facility to its prepaid customers on that same year. * 2004 Emtel brings MMS. During the following months, Emtel launched the first 3G network in Africa which enabled new services like

videotelephony Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real time communication.McGraw-Hill Concise Ency ...

, and

video surveillance Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly tr ...

where customers could remotely monitor their house through a

webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in videotelephony, livestreaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or peripheral ...

connected to the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

on their

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...

. * 2005 Emtel launches Caller Tunes, which allows customers to personalize their Caller Tone. * 2006 Emtel Networks extends to Rodrigues outer-island. Emtel TV is launched comprising 10 television channels * 2007 Emtel launches

technology aimed at providing

wireless data communication Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

over long distances. The company is the first to introduce

(High Speed Downlink Packet Access) on the local market. It offers 3.5G services, which allows networks to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity with mobile access via the Emtel USB Modem (

Huawei E220 The Huawei E220 is a Huawei HSDPA access device (modem) manufactured by Huawei and notable for using the USB interface (USB modem). Technically it is a modem, USB and (due to the CDfs format) virtual CD-ROM device. Launched on 21 June 2006,

) with 1.8 Mbit/s maximum downlink speed. * 2008 Emtel launches Gift and Collect SMS, allowing the user to send SMS even when short of mobile credits * 2009 Emtel receives

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of five quality management systems (QMS) standards that help organizations ensure they meet customer and other stakeholder needs within statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. ISO ...

:2008 certification by the

British Standards Institution The British Standards Institution (BSI) is the national standards body of the United Kingdom. BSI produces technical standards on a wide range of products and services and also supplies certification and standards-related services to busines ...

. 29 May – Emtel celebrates its 20th anniversary. On 2 June, Emtel launches its Underground Fibre Optical project at its Boundary Road office. This cable is the first in its kind in Mauritius, and will provide access to high speed Internet services. The first phase of the project is 137 km long. 11 November – Emtel wins the "Changing Lives" AfricaCom Award in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

for having launched its mobile network in

Agaléga Agaléga (french: îles Agaléga) is a dependency of Mauritius which consists of two outer islands located in the Indian Ocean, about north of Mauritius Island. The population of the islands as at July 2011 was estimated at 289. The islands h ...

, giving Agalaéans access to the same services and the same tariffs as in Mauritius and Rodrigues. * 2010 Emtel launches a service, enabling subscribers to use both prepaid and

postpaid The postpaid mobile phone is a mobile phone for which service is provided by a prior arrangement with a mobile network operator. The user in this situation is billed after the fact according to their use of mobile services at the end of each mon ...

while keeping their existing Emtel number as well as their

SIM card A typical SIM card (mini-SIM with micro-SIM cutout) A GSM mobile phone file:Simkarte NFC SecureElement.jpg, T-Mobile nano-SIM card with NFC capabilities in the SIM tray of an iPhone 6s file:Tf sim both sides.png, A TracFone Wireless SIM card ha ...

. Emtel later launches m-payment to enable

mobile payment A mobile payment, also referred to as mobile money, mobile money transfer and mobile wallet, is any of various payment processing services operated under financial regulations and performed from or via a mobile device, as the cardinal class of ...

of Emtel bills via SMS, other services such as

utility As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosoph ...

bill payment or cinema ticket purchase to be launched. In August, Emtel launches SOS Refill which enables the user to obtain a Rs 5 emergency credit if they have less than Rs3 on their prepaid balance. * 2011 Emtel becomes the first Mauritian operator to launch

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

mobile, with the possibility to post status updates via SMS; receive updates, likes, etc. * 2012 Emtel launches its data center at Arsenal (Mauritius) for contingency. Later on, it launches its

fixed wireless Fixed wireless is the operation of wireless communication devices or systems used to connect two fixed locations (e.g., building to building or tower to building) with a radio or other wireless link, such as laser bridge. Usually, fixed wireles ...

telephony services to home and office users. In May, on its 23rd anniversary, Emtel soft-launches the 4G-LTE service. The service is commercially launched in July 2012 offering service speeds of up to 150Mbit/s. In September 2012, Emtel is

rebranded Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

with a new

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

and new slogan: "Emtel – You. First" * 2013 Emtel launched fixed voice and data/Internet services and invested in Data-related projects such as the international submarine fibre optic cable and network modernisation. * 2014 Emtel launches its PRI fixed telephony service for businesses and is also the first mobile network operator in Mauritius to be IPv6 ready. * 2015 Emtel becomes the official triple play partner of Manchester United in Mauritius on 5 February 2015. Later on, Emtel launches the www.1010.mu portal offering the best choice for digital lifestyles: website design in seconds, business class email and automated Cloud backup, enabling customers to access a whole new world of possibilities. On 16 June 2015, Emtel launched "Airbox by Emtel" offering unlimited high speed internet to residential users. * 2016 Emtel launches unlimited Facebook and WhatsApp for prepaid and postpaid customers who have activated a mobile internet pack.

References

{{Authority control Telecommunications companies of Mauritius Companies established in 1989 Privately held companies Companies based in Ebene, Mauritius