The Media Guru

Nov 26, 2011



ADSL_01.12.11

If you’ve been following the news, you must have heard that the Minister of ICT has announced that as from 1st December 2011, the price of Orange ADSL will decrease by around 10% (VAT inclusive).

  • Orange ADSL 256K 3GB – Rs 399 to Rs 349
  • Orange ADSL 512K – Rs 759 to Rs 699
  • Orange ADSL 1M – Rs 899 to Rs 799
  • Orange ADSL 2M (new!) - Rs 1349
  • Orange ADSL 4M (new!) - Rs 2349

Une baisse de 12% à 46% sur les tarifs ADSL Home et de 50% sur l’ADSL Business dès le 1er décembre. C’est ce qu’a annoncé le ministre des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (TIC), ce vendredi 25 novembre, lors d’un point de presse à son ministère.

Comme l’avait déclaré récemment Tassarajen Pillay Chedumbrum lors du lancement du nouveau portail du gouvernement, la réduction des tarifs d’Internet prendra effet à partir du 1er décembre prochain. Ainsi, les nouveaux tarifs de l’ADSL Home de 256K passeront de Rs 399 à Rs 349, avec une baisse de 12%. Ceux de l’ADSL Home de 512K seront à Rs 699 au lieu de Rs 759. Pour le débit de 1 Méga, les tarifs seront de Rs 799 avec une réduction de 46%.

Pour les entrepreneurs, le prix de l’ADSL Business connaîtra une baisse de 50%. Alors que pour les centres d’appel et les sociétés évoluant dans le secteur BPO, les tarifs enregistreront une réduction de 10 à 46%. Tous les  nouveaux tarifs  seront  effectifs à partir du  1er décembre 2011.

TassarajenPillay Chedumbrum explique que toutes ces baisses ont pu devenir une réalité grâce à l’Open Access Policy to Sea Cable. «Les opérateurs n’auront plus à prendre des bandes passantes uniquement auprès de Mauritius Telecom. Bientôt, Emtel pourra également commencer à vendre ses bandes passantes », explique le ministre des TIC.

De plus, celui-ci affirme qu’une baisse de 50% sur l’ADSL Business vise à encourager les Petites et Moyennes Entreprises. Tassarajen Pillay Chedumbrum soutient que l’objectif de son ministère est de faire que le secteur des TIC devienne le second pilier de l’économie, avec une contribution de 8% au Produit Intérieur Brut (PIB).

Le ministre estime, par ailleurs, que les bandes passantes qui connectent Maurice à l’étranger seront plus accessibles.« Nous voulons briser le monopole détenu par Mauritius Telecom, et ainsi créer un environnement favorable à l’investissement », soutient-il.

S’agissant de My.T, ce service de Mauritius Telecom permettant à la fois de téléphoner, de visionner les films et de surfer sur Internet, il n’y aura aucune réduction des tarifs.

Source – L’Express.mu

There are no decreases for My.T (at least not yet). New My.T prices updated at the bottom of the post.

But wait… where did that 1Mbps ADSL come from?!?

 

To explain this, we need to go back to a month ago when…

image

The Competition Commission of Mauritius (CCM) had launched an investigation on the monopoly of Mauritius Telecom on Internet in Mauritius, specifically concerning its anti-competitive My.T offer. Hence, they had invited all Internet users to come forward with their complaints.

Here is the press release. The pdf can be downloaded here.

INFORMATION GATHERING FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC IN THE INVESTIGATION OF MAURITIUS TELECOM IN RELATION TO ITS MYT INTERNET ACCESS BUNDLING

The Competition Commission of Mauritius (CCM) has launched an investigation into Mauritius Telecom’s offering of the My.T product on the 21st February 2011. The Statement of Issues, a document which outlines the main areas of concern at the preliminary stage of the Investigation has been issued to Mauritius Telecom.

Following the Statement of Issues, the Executive Director of the CCM wishes to invite comments or representations from members of the public to gather further information and evidence on the concerns which may or may not lead to an eventual finding of breach of the Competition Act. Comments or representations should be made by November 04th by contacting the CCM. The issues on which the public may comment are as follows:

  • Market definitions for further analysis of the conduct in each relevant market which have at present been defined as
    i. the market for fixed line retail broadband access
    i. the market for Pay TV
    ii. the market for ILD (International Long Distance) calls
  • The effects of MT’s tying and bundling conduct on competition in these markets, particularly the Pay TV market;

Dr Sean Ennis, Executive Director of the CCM, has stated: “The My.T package mixes together broadband internet – a product in which MT has a monopoly - with products such as international calls and TV services, in which it competes with other companies. Such packages might be in the interests of vigorous competition and convenient for customers. But if customers are unduly influenced towards buying TV services from MT, just because of its broadband monopoly,that could damage competition in those markets.”

The investigation is continuing. It is being carried out under the “monopoly situations” provisions of the Competition Act. The next step is the preparation of the report by the Executive Director. After that report, if the Commission finds that MT’s actions have the object or effect of “restricting, preventing or distorting competition”, then the Commission can impose remedial measures on MT. Whatever the outcome, there is no possibility of any financial penalties being levied in this case, as these relate only to collusive agreements between several competing companies.

The Executive Director emphasised “The fact that a Statement of Issues has been communicated to MT should not be construed as conclusive findings or as a determination that MT is in breach of the Competition Act. At this stage, no such determination has been made. Any determination as to possible breaches can only be made at the stage of provisional and final report of investigation.”

The Executive Director will endeavour to the fullest extent possible to respect anonymity of any individual providing information in the context of this investigation and/or to protect any confidential information any person or any company may provide at the request of that individual.


The Competition Act

The Competition Act 2007 came fully into effect on November 25th 2009, and is enforced by the Competition Commission of Mauritius, the CCM. Sub-parts II and III of Part III of the Competition Act 2007, cover restrictive practices described under ‘Other restrictive agreements’ and ‘Monopoly situations’.

To take action, the CCM must find that the conduct of an enterprise in a monopoly situation restricts, prevents or distorts competition or otherwise exploits the monopoly situation. We refer to such conduct as ‘abuse of monopoly’. Where the Executive Director has reasonable grounds to believe that abuse is occurring, or will occur, he may launch an investigation.

Monopoly abuse: It is not in itself any breach of the law for an enterprise to be in a monopoly situation. However, as per Section 46(2) of the Competition Act, enterprises which hold monopoly positions may be in breach of the abuse or exploit any market power this position confers upon them. The question for the CCM is whether such enterprises are engaged in conduct which restricts, prevents or distorts competition (such as using their market position to exclude rival enterprises) or otherwise exploiting the monopoly situation. This is sometimes termed ‘foreclosure’.

Anticompetitive foreclosure may arise through ‘bundling’: the packaging together of two or more products. If the sale of one product is conditional on the sale of another, the products are said to be ‘bundled’ or ‘tied’ together (the former term is normally used when neither product can be bought separately).

Tying and bundling are normal business practices that are not by any means necessarily anticompetitive. Many products are sold jointly, or in varying combinations. However, in some cases bundling might be used anti-competitively. If an enterprise has market power in the sale of one product (for example a 100% market share), but sells another in more competitive markets, then it might ‘leverage’ market power to reduce competition in the second market. To the extent customers have to buy the monopolized (tying) product, they are forced in effect to buy the other (tied) product, reducing the sales of competitors for that second product.

The CCM takes the view that, in most markets, free competition is an effective guarantor of the interests of consumers and is likely best to promote the efficiency, adaptability and competitiveness of the economy of Mauritius. Significant weakening of competition will therefore have adverse effects.

If it finds a breach of the monopoly provisions of the Competition Act, following an investigation, the Commission has the power to force sales of assets or businesses, or require changes in company behaviour, to remedy the situation.

Further information: For further information see the CCM’s website at www.ccm.mu, and the CCM’s Procedural Rules and Guidelines: ‘CCM 1 - Procedural Rules’, ‘CCM 4 - Monopoly situations and non-collusive agreements’ and ‘CCM 6 - Remedies and Penalties’, all available on the web site.

L’Express - Enquête sur l’offre MyT : La Competition Commission invite le public à déposer

Eventually, the date for submission was extended from the 4th Nov to 18th Nov & along with several other Internet users, we submitted a document to the commission, where the following points were raised.

 

Monopoly?

The Act defines a ‘monopoly situation’ where any one company has a 30% market share.

Does Mauritius Telecom have more than 30% share of the ISP market in Mauritius? Obviously yes.

But the admins over at the Facebook page of Orange Mauritius want you to believe otherwise. Quoting:

“First of all, Orange Mauritius is not in a monopoly situation as the liberalization of the telecommunication sector in Mauritius is effective since 2004. There are several other Internet Service Providers in Mauritius.”

So let’s see how they are taking undue advantage of their monopoly status, starting with…

 

I. Fixed line retail broadband access

There are only a handful of ISPs in Mauritius – Mauritius Telecom/Orange Mauritius, Emtel, Nomad (RIP) and MTML. As of 2010, there are 284,200 Internet subscriptions in Mauritius (ICTA, 2010). Out of the 271,400 broadband subscriptions, 93,900 are fixed line & 177,500 are mobile.

As we all know, wireless broadband doesn’t come cheap. The speed is not constant & the usage is not unlimited.

Orange (EDGE, 3G, HSUPA – up to 7.2Mbps)

Mobile Internet (prepaid)

  • 20MB – Rs 50
  • 50MB – Rs 100
  • 200MB – Rs 200
  • 1 GB – Rs 499
  • 3 GB – Rs 999
  • 5 GB – Rs 1299
    Excess at PAYG rate of Rs 3.53/MB.

Internet Everywhere (with modem & monthly tariffs as above)

  • Post-pay - Rs 1999 (excess Rs 2/MB)
  • Prepay - Rs 2999 (excess Rs 3.53/MB)

Emtel (3G, HSUPA – up to 7.2Mbps)

Prepaid Web (PAYG at Rs 3/MB)

  • 500MB – Rs 350
  • 1 GB – Rs 480

Mobile Broadband (monthly tariffs, modem at Rs 1990)

  • 1 GB – Rs 459
  • 2GB – Rs 861
  • 5GB – Rs 1724
  • 10GB – Rs 2874
    Excess at Rs 2.25/MB

MTML (CDMA, EVDO – up to 2.4Mbps)

Azu Broadband (monthly tariffs, modem at Rs 4542)

  • 1 GB – Rs 344
  • 2 GB – Rs 631
  • 5 GB – Rs 1379
  • 12 GB – Rs 2300
    Excess at Rs 0.80/MB

& that’s why more than 90,000 people have chosen ADSL. Except, they didn’t really have to chose since there is only one ISP which provides ADSL services to the public – Mauritius Telecom.

ISPs that have tried to compete with MT were already at disadvantage because

  1. they had to pay MT for using the SAFE cable (until 2011 when the Open Access Policy came in, SAFE access was being solely regulated by MT),
  2. they had to setup their own wireless networks while MT already had its own wired network, and
  3. they couldn’t wage a price-war while remaining profitable as MT could always beat their prices.

DCL & Mauripost have all gone out of business, Nomad is on life-support with the handful of customers still with it, MTML failed because of mismanagement and Emtel still haven’t launched their Wimax services (reputed very reliable) for the public.

This Microsoft-like monopoly has allowed Mauritius Telecom to set any price that suits them.

Orange ADSL

  • 256k – 3GB – Rs 399 (excess at Rs 0.58/MB)
  • 512k – Unlimited – Rs 759

My.T

  • 1M + TV – Rs 999
  • 2M + TV – Rs 1699
  • 4M + TV – Rs 2999

As you can see, there's no ADSL 256k unlimited, no ADSL 1M, ADSL 2M, ADSL 4M or any My.T with no TV options.
(There was an ADSL 1M at Rs 1353 only for existing 1M users before the speed double, but all of them have migrated to My.T)

If you phone MT's customer care, & ask them why there's no ADSL 1M, they'll tell you that My.T is a package & you either take it or you're free to go to their (inexistent) competitors.

In fact, by bundling additional (non-optional) services, MT can demand more money from subscribers. & because customers are only concerned with the Internet connectivity, they are forced to pay for these unwanted services.
In short, a blatant abuse of monopoly.

It's like using those AC buses where they make you pay extra. You don't want the AC, you don't want to pay additional fare for it, but you have to because that's the only bus that goes through your destination. Your other choices are to either walk or buy a car.

In their pursuit for more profits, MT have also stranded thousands of users who want faster speeds. By making 1Mbps & 2Mbps connections only available to My.T subscribers, they effectively prevent people who live far from a DSLAM (the exchange) from moving up from 512k connections.

The maximum range for an ADSL2 connection is 3km & the attenuation should be less than 42dB. Given that My.T also requires at least 5Mbps of bandwidth, it leaves many users ineligible for an upgrade. Their only hope is to wait for FTTC to be installed in their region.

Now if Orange ADSL was available at 1Mbps or 2Mbps, all these users would have been satisfied.

 

II. Pay TV

Another malpractice of MT is the bundling of IPTV channels on My.T. Using their Internet monopoly, MT force their TV channels on customers. Many users already have a separate satellite subscription from CanalSat, Parabole Maurice or DSTV, which makes most of the My.T channels redundant. So they're paying extra for a service they already have. Not to mention that the quality of IPTV is largely inferior to satellite TV & is network dependent (no ADSL connectivity = no TV).

My.T Core Bouquet (27 channels) - FREE

  • Info: CNN, NDTV Profit, NDTV 24x7, France 24, CCTV, NHK World, Bloomberg TV.
  • Kids: Boomerang, Gulli, Boing, Kidsco.
  • Music: Hungama, MCM Tor, Clubbing TV.
  • General: Reunion 1ere, France 2, France 3, France 5, France O, Ary Digital, Jaya TV, TCM.
  • Lifestyle: Liberty TV, Fashion TV, Motors TV, NDTV Good Times, Yacht & Sail.

My.T Bollywood Bouquet - +Rs 250

  • Star Plus, Star One, Star Gold, Imagine, Headlines Today

By bundling IPTV with My.T, MT gives less incentives for people to subscribe to satellite TV as the most basic of subscriptions start at Rs 450/month. & according to the above definition of bundling, that's unfair competition.

 

III. ILD (International Long Distance) calls

With every My.T subscription comes My.T Talk, an International Call service. You just need to call

< 320 2051 + country code + phone number >

Easy right? For the customers, yes. But other ILD operators simply can’t compete. First, it has made the Prepaid card completely obsolete. Who will go & buy a prepaid card if you can just dial a number from your telephone line?

Second, if you have to use another operator’s service directly from your telephone line (IDD), you first have to register with that operator. Emtel, Outremer Telecom & Easicall all require you to call on their office/showroom, present some relevant documents & fill up a form before you can subscribe.

Why would anyone go to such a pain for saving some extra cents when they can use My.T Talk? & that’s why it is uncompetitive, because Mauritius Telecom is leveraging the monopoly it has on Internet access to promote its own international call services.

 

So?

In all 3 of the above markets, MT are making a blatant abuse of their Internet monopoly. The CCM has every right to impose sanctions on MT. This investigation was expected to be completed by March 2012. Except, in the meantime, something has happened...

 

 

The Orange ADSL 1Mbps offer

On the 2nd of November, Orange Mauritius discreetly updated their Orange ADSL with a new option - 1Mbps.

Last year, they scrapped this offer & suddenly out of nowhere, it comes back. Did they pity the users? No, it’s because of the CCM. By adding this 1Mbps offer, Mauritius Telecom have effectively nullified half of our arguments.
Update: As I had long suspected, they've now added two new ADSL offers - 2Mbps & 4Mbps.

The new price grid looks like this now:

Orange ADSL

  • 256k – 3GB – Rs 359 (excess at Rs 0.58/MB)
  • 512k – Rs 699
  • 1Mbps – Rs 799
  • 2Mbps – Rs 1349
  • 4Mbps – Rs 2349

My.T

  • 1M + TV – Rs 949
  • 2M + TV – Rs 1499
  • 4M + TV – Rs 2499

A perfect price grid that is absolutely legal. Want TV, pay extra for it. Don't want it, choose ADSL. There are hardly any grounds for the CCM to investigate My.T now that customers have the choice. ALL users should be satisfied now...

Well, except if you are an old-time My.T 512K user… which I am. Last year I was cheated by Orange Mauritius, now I’m being extorted…
Let’s see. I pay Rs 750+VAT, which is Rs 864 & I get up to 512K & two channels. YES, ONLY TWO – Liberty TV & CCTV.
Now, I have no choice but to subscribe to ADSL 1Mbps & forego the crappy Livebox & the crappier 2Mbps local speed (which was 4Mbps since the past 3 weeks).

That’s what you get from being a monopoly situation. Absolute control of prices. Double the speeds but keep the same prices. No wonder they have a net profit of Rs 1.6 billion (pre-tax).

 

 

Why so slow?

Why is our internet still so slow? It’s not as if we are running out of bandwidth, are we?

image

If you at the above chart, the international bandwidth has increased nearly exponentially, so we clearly have more than enough of it.

 

image

The number of users hasn’t increased either. Even if you factor in the CyberTower sector, it doesn’t explain why we do not have 10Mbps connections.
Note that the total number of Internet subscribers includes mobile users (hence the large number) & that the 2010 numbers are estimates based on reported numbers.

 

image

The evolution of the price & the speed of Internet is not in line with the international bandwidth we have. If you notice it, the lowest pricing has always remained at around Rs 750. I think that’s what you’d call price-fixing…

Nevertheless, that doesn’t explain why our connections are slow. Why do we experience slowdowns every night, every week-end, every public holiday?

To find out, I did some speed tests with the local server at Port Louis.

1591177589

Test at 15:32, during the day. Full 4Mbps local.

1591384656

6pm. Drops down to 1300kbps.

1591551945

19:40. 354kbps local speed.

1592555712

The next day, at 06:44 – 4.2Mbps.

So what we can conclude is that at night, as more subscribers use their broadband connections, the speed drops.

But the real metric is the ping test. At night, it’s nearly 8 times higher. The ping test determines the connection latency, the time it takes for an IP packet to travel from your computer to the speed server. If there are more packets on the network, the longer will be the delay.

& the reason why our connections are so slow is because the local infrastructure is inadequate. Our kilometres of copper cabling have become completely obsolete. It simply cannot cater to the ever-increasing internet connection speeds.

It’s as if for years you’ve been using an ox-cart (local connectivity) being pulled by a ox (international bandwidth). Which was then upgraded to a donkey, then a horse, pulling the cart. & now we have a car. Except that it’s still pulling that same ox-cart.

Unless every single region in the country is served by fibre, we will still have these problems. Who to blame? MT for its short-sightedness in not predicting this situation & starting the deployment of its FTTC network only three years ago.

& why did we have come to this situation? Once again, because of the monopoly

 

Update 28.11.2011:

Orange ADSL

Orange ADSL 2011 prices

MT have updated their Orange ADSL page with the new prices, taking effect as from 1st December 2011.

Orange ADSL

Old Price

New Price

256k 3GB

Rs 399

Rs 349

512k

Rs 759

Rs 699

1M

Rs 899

Rs 799

2M

 

Rs 1349

4M

Rs 2349

Well, surprise, there are new 2Mbps & 4Mbps offers… If you have read about the CCM above, you’ll know why these offers have magically appeared! :)

 

My.T

MyT 2011 prices

My.T prices have also decreased.

My.T

Old Price

New Price

1M

Rs 999

Rs 949

2M

Rs 1699

Rs 1499

4M

Rs 2999

Rs 2499

So that’s it. Let’s all move to ADSL! :)
After 4 years of suffering My.T, Mauritian users can finally enjoy an Internet-only connection. Note that there's only Rs 150 difference between the My.T & ADSL packages (plus the local speed of 2Mbps/4Mbps).

 

 

Update 30.11.2011

ADSL 2011 prices

A few more information which I gathered from Orange Mauritius’ Facebook page.

My.T 512k

If you are a My.T 512k – no TV user (i.e. with only 2 TV channels), the price decrease is from Rs 848 to Rs 799. Given that I’m getting double the speed, 1Mbps, on ADSL, there’s no point staying on my My.T 512k, paying the same price. Well, except…

 

My.T to ADSL?

If you’re moving from My.T to ADSL, there’s a line conversion fee of Rs 1000. Plus, you get a non-wifi modem.
& if you’re upgrading from the same package (My.T to My.T, ADSL to ADSL), it’s free. Otherwise, you have to pay. Brilliant!

 

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Yashvin Awootar said...

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh f*!
So long and ultimately detailed post :-)

I hope that you have said all that to CCM. This post should have been written during the data collection from the public! +1. Like. hi5!For people who want a smaller post (with less details, no graphs and very little research work done), please carry on to my blog : http://www.yashvinblogs.com/dec-2011-price-adsl-goes-down/

carrotmadman6 said...

Update:

There are now 2 newer ADSL offers...
ADSL 2M - Rs 1349
ADSL 4M - Rs 2349

http://www.orange.mu/kinews/dossiers/societe/294876/baisses-des-tarifs-internet-a-partir-du-1er-decembre.html

Bloody hell!

Tushal said...

The 512k users are royally screwed. :D

Navin Ramkhelawon said...

I'll wait for MT's press communique on Monday afternoon (I think I read it somewhere on orange.mu) to decide on what to actually do with myT. But for my brother we should just move on to the ADSL 1M already, and it won't be long before I join his stance.. I didnt upgrade my package last time out, so I dont get these tv channels (who actually cares about these?!) and I only use the Internet with myT. 

Mike said...

Thanks for this detailed explanation which is a real eye-opener. What a mess, I hope it gets sorted out in 2012. The latest announcement by Orange for home usage is confusing me (see above link carrotmadman6 ) or is the article just mixing ADSL and MyT together?

Tushal said...

Proof that 1mb was not in existence before.
http://web.archive.org/web/20110101150819/http://orange.mu/internet/adsl.php

Clodio said...

Here's my conclusion:
MT wants us to know that 'raw copper cables won't die out that easily'.



As far as I know, the maximum theoretical downstream speed is up to (yes, that's UP TO) 8 Mbps on plain old ADSL (the same technology used in the 'Orange ADSL' offers), which can be attained if all conditions are met favouring a trouble-free line e.g. if there's negligible attenuation & noise, proper internal cabling, etc. But the most important one is the distance from the nearest MT exchange point. Lucky me, I live barely 100m away from one. That could be why I've almost never experienced speed drops on my 512K ADSL line. :)

If this last factor strongly influences the connection speed, then this would be inevitably a real headache for the thouasnds of would-be subscribers! How can MT guarantee that everyone will receive a flawless 1 Mbps connection? Was this in part not the reason why MyT was introduced? What puzzles me even more is who would really risk forking out a chunk of their monthly budget on the 2/4Mbps plans (officially, they've kept mum on these two offers. Why? Noone knows for sure)...

Now, what next for MyT? Will it be discontinued? What's the use of local Akamai cache servers then? Surely, MT won't ditch ADSL2-based MyT (which obviously permits far greater speeds than plain ADSL).
Having been an Wanadoo ADSL 128K subscriber since late 2005 and resisted jumping on the MyT bandwagon in June 2006 (and a couple of other occasions), how do i see things faring? Pretty positive for all Orange ADSL subscribers but not so much for the so many MyT folks. I hope MT brings all this confusion to a halt as soon as possible.

carrotmadman6 said...

Buy a proper Wifi router & move to ADSL 1M.

carrotmadman6 said...

Yes, I'm also confused. I'm assuming they mean new ADSL offers. We'll have to wait for the press conference to know more.

carrotmadman6 said...

The way I see it, 512k/1M will use ADSL technology, so you can receive it up to 3km+. For 2M/4M (if they will introduce it), it'll use ADSL2/2+, so the range will be limited.
As you can see in the above speed tests, they've been testing 4Mbps local speed...

& finally, the ADSL & My.T offers will be straight-forward. Those who want TV just pay extra for it. Those who don't can still take ADSL. The CCM forced their hand into doing that!

le_voyageur said...

im screwed :)im currently on myt 512k package and this is my current status  http://www.speedtest.net/result/1613950812.png

YNK FC said...

I think new ADSL modems which are given by MT have Wifi option... And ADSL connection is very rarely down when compared to MyT (from what I heard from my friends)


BTW, I am one of those users who were forced to take the 512K ADSL because the attenuation was just over 42 dB... :p

Does anybody know what are the criteria to be eligible to ADSL 1M? I mean what kind of attenuation? 

YNK FC said...

I think these two are for ADSL Business, not home packages...

carrotmadman6 said...

It says:
"Les nouveaux tarifs à usage domestique, incluant la TVA sont comme suit:"

YNK FC said...

I am just going by what the 'minister' said earlier.. :p 

But, if these two packages are really available, that would be interesting... 

carrotmadman6 said...

Let's wait for Monday afternoon! :)

YNK FC said...

Why MyT does not tempt me anymore with the introduction of these new ADSL packages... :p 


1) Do people really care about Video On Demand? I personally, would either download the film... Some would buy the DVD at Rs25... :p

2) I would never use the discounted international calls... if I have broadband, then why would I use the phone instead of using Skype or MSN? Video+audio is better than audio alone... ^^

3) The MyT TV channels are not tempting when compared to satellite tv or even internet streaming...

Keshav Dussaram said...

MyT users (like me) will be disadvantaged until the CCM-MyT case sees a verdict. I'm tempted to switch to the 1 Mb ADSL but i've got to by a wifi router.

Who cares about VOD and the irritable channels in the MyT package anyway? I'm sure that most of us have used this service until the available (promotional) credit was finished.

@carrot: I'm looking forward to your cynical review of the Infotech 2011.

Keshav said...

* I'm tempted to switch to the 1 Mb ADSL but i've got to buy a wifi router.
(before the grammar nazis eat me alive).

carrotmadman6 said...

About the CCM case, I seriously don't think it has any legal power to stop MT from doing anything to the My.T offers...

The Infotech post is here - http://carrotmadman6.blogspot.com/2011/11/infotech-2011.html
:)

Inf said...

I thought ADSL 2Mbps+ was not possible because of "limitations of technology" and whatnot.

This was the answer I got when I inquired about why ADSL speed was not being doubled while MyT got the double. Did technology suddenly evolve.

Btw.. this ADSL 2Mbps can be considered as a 2x speed again. That was the price I was paying for a 1Mbps ADSL connection. Let's hope this connection is for Home users, uncapped too. That'll be a start.

Anybody feeling as if Orange is getting slightly twitchy at the idea of another ISP emerging on the market, promising FTTH?

carrotmadman6 said...

The technology didn't evolve, but their (false?) marketing did. :)

Ask yourself this - what is the technology behind My.T providing up to 6Mbps bandwidth (at least for my 512k). That's ADSL2/2+.
So what they are now doing is providing Orange ADSL connections using ADSL2, hence the faster connections. So it'll have the same range/eligibility restrictions as My.T

I assume, given how crappy the copper network is, they will use the following metric:
ADSL: 256k-2Mbps
ADSL2: 2Mbps-4Mbps

I think that the CCM & BTL have both contributed to lighting a fire under MT. They are now scrambling to saturate the market before the arrival of another ISP. :)

Torpilledo said...

Let me first of all take of my hat to salute such an impressive piece of work.

Then, let me ask all those who have been similarly disgusted by this abuse of power by the dominant ISP to show your disgust by spitting in front of MT's door each and every time yo happen to go there.

There are some people who need to buy anti-slip shoes now...

Harrish 7777 said...

MT annonce des baisses de tarifs et de nouvelles offres internet 28.11.2011
Nouveaux tarifs ADSL grand public, TVA incluse (à partir du 1er décembre 2011) Les tarifs ADSL baissent entre 8 et 13%. Par ailleurs, deux nouvelles offres se greffent à celles existantes et la gamme ADSL est désormais en adéquation avec celle de My.T.256K - Rs 349512K - Rs 6991M - Rs 7992M - Rs 1 3494M - Rs 2 349Nouveaux tarifs My.T, TVA incluse (à partir du 1er décembre 2011)Les prix baissent jusqu’à 17% sur les offres My.T.My.T 1M + 30 chaînes TV – Rs 949My.T 2M + 30 chaînes TV – Rs 1 499My.T 4M + 30 chaînes TV – Rs 2 499
http://www.orange.mu/kinews/dossiers/business/295091/mt-annonce-des-baisses-de-tarifs-et-de-nouvelles-offres-internet.html 

Harrish 7777 said...

What does Rs 50 reduction for myt 1 represent nowadays...... MT are taking  us just like fools..... That is called MONOPOLY 

Anil said...

i want to upgrade from adsl 512 k to adsl 1mb. Do i need to pay any modification charge?
thanks.

carrotmadman6 said...

I checked the modification form here but didn't see any fee. Better give 8900 a call.

Clodio said...

Nopes, no additional charges.

I think it's there in the downloadable modification form (beware: printout is scarcely  readable). It says there's a 'Rs 500 transfer fee' which applies to the ADSL Pro and Business  offers.

Clodio said...

2006 - ADSL users jumping ship to MyT
2011 - MyT users jumping ship to ADSL. Lol

Ah, the good old days are back... :)
Remember this? I'd request a rerun of this cool ad on our local TV channels...

Inf said...

You sure that's ADSL2? I'm pretty sure the limits on conventional ADSL are 8Mbps (theoretical). That's related to distance, but I guess at about 3.5 km, a speed of 3.5-4Mbps should be feasible.

What I don't understand is why they're giving speed boosts in 2x format. If they can afford the boost, why not give a 4x boost or a 8x boost at once?

Are they slowly upgrading infrastructure at the same time?

carrotmadman6 said...

They will use both. Looking back at the post last year, there was a My.T 1M user with ADSL1 with 4Mbps downstream (but loads of errors on his line).

I don't know if they've upgraded the infrastructure... but suddenly I'm getting full speed at night! Ping rate is still bad, but at least it's not 1s!

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1619744452.png

Bilou_42 said...

Measured statistics at netindex.com shows that Mauritius is among the last countries with the poorest connection speed. I doubt it can compete in the ICT sector if MT keeps maintaining the insane price of cost vs speed. MT p fer Mauriciens mizere.

Look for Mauritius' ranking on the links below, it's rather sad that we're entering 2012 with such poor internet infrastructure. Calling it a cyber island is a sarcastic joke.
http://www.netindex.com/download/allcountries/
http://www.netindex.com/upload/allcountries/

carrotmadman6 said...

African countries with better speeds (download) than CyberTowerIsland:
43. Ghana - 9.71Mbps
73. Rwanda - 4.81Mbps
81. Angola - 4.91Mbps
84. Kenya - 4.04Mbps
95. South Africa - 3.51Mbps
98. Madagascar - 2.98Mbps
99. Zimbabwe - 2.93Mbps
132. Nigeria - 2.10Mbps
133. Namibia - 2.05Mbps
135. Maldives - 1.936Mbps
137. Mozambique - 1.87Mbps
143. Uganda - 1.70Mbps
144. Mauritius - 1.67Mbps
170. Reunion - 0.67Mbps

http://www.netindex.com/download/2,134/Mauritius/

carrotmadman6 said...

Update:

My.T 512k no TV - from Rs 848 to Rs 799.

Anil said...

wow Madagascar ek Rwanda ena pli bon connection ki maurice. mari la honte sa!!

Jens said...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1621306502.png

getting local speed ~4Mbps
but downloads on youtube still ~2Mbps (Cached videos)

S4ilesh said...

Li fausse sa, La reunion ena connection juska 30 mega, couma capave zot enbla maurice??

Vish said...

@e889cda39520af2fb90daf7d76cb70d1 maybe u r using myt. 4mbps :P//koz avk 1 ou 2 mbps myt//local speed li enkor 2 mbps

carrotmadman6 said...

I wondered about this as well & found that they used only 600 tests to compile the data, which is very low compared to the 13k they used to calculate Mauritius' average speed. Hence, the stats for Reunion are flawed.

http://www.netindex.com/download/2,152/Reunion/

If you look at the graph, Reunion's average connection was originally around 2.8Mbps. :)

One more lame reason I can think of is that the speeds in Reunion are so fast that most people don't bother doing speed tests... :p

Harrish 7777 said...

Hv my.t 1mb ....very low connection... Just check the download speed thro SPEEDTEST.NET from Pamplemousses at Madagascar server @ 19.30  ....... download is 12 and upload is only 5.... ie am getting connection for 120kb instead of 1mb.... What is happening to MT???? They r just fooling us.

Harrish 7777 said...

Most of us use abroad server for facebook , youtube & other international sites.... local site do not interest maybe 90% of us .Got 1mb myt - tested speed is 2 mb for local but what the use.

Jens said...

Well some people need a lesson in kb / KB / MB/ kbps / KB/s / MB/s
Google is here for that.

IF you have myT 1MBps,
its normal that you have a 120 KB/s download speed !!!!

http://innovationzen.com/blog/2006/07/28/the-broadband-speed-guide/

Jotish Gopaul said...

"Une baisse de 12% à 46% sur les tarifs ADSL Home..." i saw the 12% decrease. the 13-46% is nowhere to be seen. //Banla p prend dimoune pou couyon ca!

Clodio said...

This does not surprise me.
1. Madagascar is connected to both LION(2009) and EASSy(2010) cables and their government, despite all the hardships during these past few turbulent years, has earmarked sufficient funds in laying out their own national backbone, on which they'll build their future IT industry.

2. Rwanda is connected to both EASSy and SEACOM undersea cables!

Point your browser
hereand you'll notice we're (I mean Mauritius) still connected to that lousy SAFE cable.
Once LION2 cable links us to the Eastern coast of Africa by the end of 2012, I'm sure we'll all reap the benefits. We just need to be a little patient. I know that living on a faraway isolated island doesn't help :)

... and obviously, you won't notice our friends from Seychelles in the league table 'cause they're still depending on satellite connectivity (like we did before 2002). Once the Seychelles East Africa System(SEAS) project is completed next year, I just pray we won't have to hold our heads in shame. :)

carrotmadman6 said...

No, we are also connected to EASSy via SAFE. We should also be connected to SEACOM via SAFE & Emtel was a major partner in that (don't know what happened).

As for LION1, we should be able to experience faster speeds with Madagascar & Reunion, but clearly that's not the case...

The thing about SAFE is that the bandwidth is not divided between countries. Telecom operators can purchase more bandwidth when needed. MT currently has 4.8Gbps of it. & because SAFE is being constantly upgraded, there's enough spare bandwidth for them to purchase.

So, international bandwidth is certainly not limited.

http://www.cablemap.info/

Anil said...

Thanks for your replies. Theres no additional fee to be paid. i upgraded to 1mb finally

Clodio said...

Just watched the Euro 2012 draw live on my all-new (hmmm... freshly upgraded) Orange ADSL 1Mbps line. Speedtest results say one thing (0.8 Mbps DL / 0.2 Mbps UL) but I definitely feel the difference...

carrotmadman6 said...

On a 1Mbps connection:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1625946370.png

Something has changed... :)

Clodio said...

Just now, I tried a speed test on the Cape Town server just now.
Am just baffled... 

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1625946370.png

Clodio said...

Things improved today! Migration from OrangeADSL 512Kbps to 1Mbps complete :) 

http://speedtest.net/result/1633520765.png

selven said...

Extremely well documented article. Nicely written Carrot!



As for the Rs.1000 line conversion fee.. i really wonder "what it means by line conversion". 
And as far as the modem, why would i want their modem, if i have a netgear router? 


I'll try to move to ADSL in the coming weeks, but knowing how time has become more than gold for me lately, i'll probably move to adsl around january. 

carrotmadman6 said...

The "Rs 1000 line conversion fee" is for the 5 mins they take to login into their DSLAM & add your new login details & speed allocated. :)

The basic modem is free. If you already have a router, no need to take it.

Pramod said...

Mo prefere tini ek myT astrla acause so 2MB local speed la :P

atish29 said...

I did not know until i read this blog that i can upgrade my ADSL 512. I called 8900 for the upgrade and the gentleman told me that if I was not on fibre optic cable I would not be able to do this upgrade. It's a shame really as I know for sure that ADSL users are on copper cables. As for me, I got tipped to change to optic months ago as Orange has a limited number of optic cables available per region and those are exclusively reserved for MYT users. Therefore all ADSL users change quickly to optic!!!

Clodio said...

Seriously? It depends on which type of upgrade you opted for. MyT or ADSL.
You skipped this important piece of information :)

Baobab said...

Just in today :
Bharat Telecom: 40 Television Channels, 2 Mb/s Connection at Rs 280/month!

Carrot, waiting for your new topic :)

YNK said...

 http://btl.mu/images/btl_press_release_15march2012-english.pdf

Keshav said...

* I'm tempted to switch to the 1 Mb ADSL but i've got to buy a wifi router.
(before the grammar nazis eat me alive).

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