Emtel made a buzz recently with its Airbox launch. Airbox is a fiber connection based on Slovenian technology Fiber-Through-The-Air (FTTA). I applied for Emtel Airbox on 19 June 2015 and was told a test for line-of-sight + installation will happen on my premises within 5 days. It’s now 33 days and I am still waiting. I had several emails sent & received meanwhile and the Customer Experience Operator tried her best to keep me calm. Well, I am a calm person :)

Today CANALSAT Maurice launched it’s Internet offer dubbed CANALBOX. While I thought it would bring up a tough competition on the broadband market, I was kind of disappointed.

Emtel offers three packages via Airbox, 10Mbps, 20Mbps and 30Mbps. Unlike its main competitor Orange Mauritius, it does not specify a strict bandwidth capping. For example, the 10 Mbps package by Orange is capped at 50Gb per month, any further usage and the connection is dropped to 1Mbps. Sucks, right? If a person watches one HD video online every day, his/her Internet bandwidth consumption will reach 64Gb at the end of the month. I find the capping at 50GB a bit ridiculous. Besides Orange says I will get La Fibre (its fiber offer) by 2018. In the meantime, I should pay the same as others who’re getting 10Mbps which is Rs 949, while I get only 1Mbps.

Anyway, this blog post is about Airbox vs Canalbox and not to whine over Orange La Fibre. Let’s have a look at Emtel’s offers.

As we see the 10Mbps package is at Rs 934. Now, let’s have a look at what Canalbox is offering.

Airbox vs Canalbox

With Canalbox the 10Mbps connection comes at Rs 1200. What you get in addition is a bouquet of 30 TV channels and 38 radio channels. That’s like a difference of Rs 266 compared to Airbox 10 Mbps. Internet users are then simply paying Rs 266 for the 30 TV channels offered by Canalbox.

I had a look at TV channel offers of CANALSAT Maurice. The 30 TV channels come for Rs 300 / month. That makes Canalbox like being an Airbox bundled with Canalsat Access bouquet, which would be Rs 934 + Rs 300. Oh, they give you a discount of Rs 34, thus it’s Rs 1200 instead of Rs 1234.