Morocco’s telecoms sector is showing healthy progress, with mobile penetration rates growing. Nevertheless, it has been said the market remains far from developed and prices may need to be lowered, and the competitive environment improved, before the country can establish a customer base with maximum profitability.
MT reported a net income of around Dh8m ($1m) for 2007, up 18.7% compared to 2006. The strong growth was due largely to its mobile phone operations and better cost management. It also announced its expectation for profit growth of over 9% in 2008 with an estimated sales growth.
One of the most significant events has been the introduction of North Africa’s first 3G mobile phone licences. Wana heightened the level of competition in the mobile segment in March 2007, when it introduced North Africa’s first 3G+ service, also known as 3.5G, beating both Meditel and MT to market by nine months.
Notable highlights of the 3Q08 Morocco Mobile Forecast include:
- Total subscribers in Morocco will increase from 23million to 26million over the forecast period of 2008 – 2010. The wireless penetration level will increase from 73.9% to 83%
- In 2010, we expect that Maroc Telecom, Medi Tel and Wana will serve 65.4%, 32% and 2.8% of the subscriber base in Morocco. With Wana expanding the size of its operation, the leading player, Maroc Telecom, will be losing its market share slightly. Maroc Telecom’s market share will decrease from up to 66.2% in 2008 to 65.4% in 2010
- During the forecast period from 2008 to 2010, we think that Maroc Telecom’s share of net additions will fall from 64.6% to 51% while that of Wana increases from 5.4% to 20.7%
- Maroc Telecom will continue to enjoy a high EBITDA margin at 61.6% while MediTel is forecasted to have a 45% EBITDA margin in 2010
- In 2010, Maroc Telecom is forecasted to register ARPU of US$ 13.4/month as opposed to US$ 7.9 for Medi Tel
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