Chat with Intelvision chairman, Mukesh Valabhji |25 August 2021
Mr Valabhji (Photo: Jude Morel)
‘With IFC support we will revolutionise the way we experience the internet here in Seychelles’
Following the announcement of the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Intelvision to strengthen Seychelles’ Broadband Internet Network, Seychelles NATION had a chat with the chairman of Intelvision, Mukesh Valabhji, to know more about this new development.
Seychelles NATION: Please tell us how you ended up getting the support of IFC?
Mukesh Valabhji: It’s been a while now that we have been trying to get our own cable to connect to the world as Internet is too expensive locally through the consortium. We have also been trying to buy to invest with the consortium but they refused us. We had no choice and we approached the International Finance Corporation (IFC) where we explained the situation. They understood our situation and they were happy to partner with us.
Seychelles NATION: What is the project about?
Mukesh Valabhji: IFC's support to Intelvision, which provides data, Internet, and Internet-based voice services as well as pay-TV, includes an up to $10 million loan from its own account and an additional loan of $10 million mobilised from partners under the Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program (MCPP). The funding will enable Intelvision to lease a new cable being built by Vodafone Carrier Services as a branch of the 2Africa cable network, one of the largest subsea projects in the world, spanning over 37,000 kilometres and connecting 26 countries around the world. The cable will connect Seychelles-Milan-Mombasa-South Africa. We have enough redundancy on the cable to safeguard the consumer and all this will be backed up by satellite capacity.
Seychelles NATION: How will we benefit from it?
Mukesh Valabhji: We have realised that the problem in Seychelles is the cost of internet that is why the IFC partnered with us. This is also one of the most advanced cable systems that is being installed all over Africa, going up to America. It is being doing by Facebook and they will carry capacity to various operators. Seychelles does not need that much capacity and we bought our part from Vodafone. This project to link the Seychelles with the ambitious 2Africa subsea cable will underpin future growth for the country and its citizens.
The new cable will complement the existing Seychelles East Africa System and is expected to lower the cost of connectivity for telecom operators on the islands and increase competition for fixed broadband and mobile data services.
Only the clients of Intelvision will benefit from all these changes such as unlimited internet and faster internet.
Seychelles NATION: When will you launch your mobile service?
Mukesh Valabhji: This has been in the pipeline for some time. The project has been delayed due to the pandemic as there were delays in construction of the building and in getting people in. Hopefully we will be launching very soon. The new cable system will also allow Intelvision to eventually expand its terrestrial network by providing 4 and a half G and a half mobile networks to the whole of Mahé and the inner islands. We are proposing better sounds quality and more data for the mobile users together with other services. Our voice quality will be the best in Seychelles as today our competitors are still using a very old technology. We are launching our voice on a technology called VoLTE. It uses less bandwidth. We are not going in the 5G for now as I believe right now not many people are using a phone with 5G and until we get our own sub-marine cable we cannot use 5G as it uses lots of bandwidth.
Seychelles NATION: You are aware that there are many complaints about Intelvision service. What is your take on that?
Mukesh Valabhji: In the surveys we have done, we have find out that we are by far the company providing the best service in Seychelles. We are the only company having a 24/7 call centre facility and staff seven days a week which means Intelvision functions 365 days. We have a team of people who troubleshoot 24 hours a day. Yes there is room for improvement and with Covid we could not necessarily deploy staff to people’s home, but things are changing and improving now.
We have 130 employees and 40 subcontractors and has been in existence since 2004.
Seychelles NATION: Do you feel that Seychelles still has room for another mobile phone service provider?
Mukesh Valabhji: I believe there is room for another company for two reasons – service and pricing. Are we going to get additional customers? Probably not, but we hope we will maintain our current customers. Today our system for mobile service is the same system some countries were using some 15 to 20 years ago. Our idea is to bring more services and your phone should become your main interaction point throughout the day. Our aim is to enhance the telecommunication infrastructure of Seychelles and strengthen our digital offering to the people of Seychelles.
Vidya Gappy
