Indian telecommunications firm Bharti Airtel has launched its new brand in Africa and the Indian Ocean, including Seychelles.

This comes after the company acquired Zain Africa’s mobile operations in 15 countries in June this year for US $11 billion.

Information technology is the future in this modern, evolving world and is also the future of the new Seychelles we are creating.

President James Michel made this statement following his visit to the Department of Information Communication Technology’s (DICT) open day at Independence House yesterday.

Seychelles’ telecommunications providers are joining forces with the Department of Information Communication Technology (DICT) to shine a light on the latest technological developments in Seychelles.

The DICT open day is taking place today on the ground floor of Independence House, where the department and its IT partners are showcasing some of the internet-based solutions that are streamlining work in Seychelles.

Fibre-optic cable to be ‘legacy for our children and youth’

A contract has been signed for a 2,000-kilometre fibre-optic cable link to Tanzania, opening the way for high-speed internet communication with the rest of the world.

The agreement, worth over €24 million, is between the Seychelles Cable System (SCS) company and Alcatel-Lucent, an international Paris-based firm.

Members of the public will get a glimpse of the future tomorrow as they see and experience at first hand how technology is moving ahead in Seychelles.

This is through an “open day” event being held by the Department of Information Communication Technology (DICT) in the foyer of Independence House in Victoria.

A contract to lay a fibre-optic cable from Seychelles to Tanzania – greatly improving the broadband internet connection – is due to be signed today.

The Department of Information Communication Technology said the contract for the French-based firm Alcatel-Lucent to supply and lay the cable will be signed by the Seychelles Cable Company, which comprises the government of Seychelles and the telecommunications operators Cable & Wireless and Airtel.

Indian telecommunications firm Bharti Airtel has launched its new brand in Africa and the Indian Ocean, including Seychelles.

This comes after the company acquired Zain Africa’s mobile operations in 15 countries in June this year for US $11 billion.

Local banks and other businesses are set to benefit from the information technology (IT) know-how of regional company Birger Indian Ocean – part of the Blanche, Birger group – now it has opened offices in Seychelles.

Starting on November 1, telephone services provided by Kokonet will be available by dialling either the existing six-digit number or by adding an extra “6” in front of the current code.

The internet service provider is in the vanguard of the change by all of Seychelles’ telecommunications providers from six to seven-digit calling codes, and by early next year every phone number in Seychelles will be seven numbers long.

Professionals wanting to get a master’s degree can do so without having to travel overseas now that the University of Seychelles (UniSey) has started an e-learning programme with India.

UniSey is now working closely with several Indian universities such as the Amity University in Noida and the Indira Gandhi National Open University in New Delhi.