Wireless Federation

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Telecom Egypt is reportedly studying the possibility of bidding for a stake in Moroccan mobile operator Medi Telecom (Meditel) recently put up for sale by Portugal Telecom, as well as a stake in the company which Spain’s Telefonica is considering selling.

Tarek Tantawy, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Telecom Egypt, pointed out that the company is particularly interested in acquiring operators in possession of both fixed line and mobile networks in the Middle East and North Africa region. Other groups linked with possible bids for Meditel include Orascom Telecom, Etisalat, Batelco, Saudi Telecom, Qtel and France Telecom.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Etisalat, the African and Middle Eastern mobile operator, said that it intends to bid for a stake in the Moroccan mobile operator, Meditel. The operator seeks acquisition as the recession calls for lowered asset prices. Portugal Telecom has appointed Morgan Stanley to sell its 32% stake in Meditel, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Orascom Telecom, the Egyptian mobile operator, intends to acquire the Moroccan service provider, Meditel. Portugal Telecom is looking for a potential buyer for the 32.18% stake it holds in Meditel. Orascom wants to close the deal by the end of April. The stake is worth EUR 300 million.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Portugal Telecom is reportedly planning to divest its 32.18% stake in Moroccan private mobile phone operator Meditel to Egypt-based Orascom Telecom (OT) for an undisclosed sum.

Orascom had to sell its ownership in Egyptian telecomms firm Mobinil ( due to a conflict with France Telecom (EPA:FTE) over the control of Meditel, in which Mobinil has a 51% stake.

For more information, please visit www.telecom.pt/

The Moroccan regulator ANRT opens up a new tender for country’s third GSM mobile licence. The documents for the tender are available for MAD 40,000 from 3 November. Morocco, in May announced the plans to issue a third network licence. The winner will compete with Meditel and Maroc Telecom.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

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

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

The number of mobile subscribers in Morocco grew to 21.412 million in Q2′08 from 20.616 million. Mobile penetration is now 69.43%, a raise of 11.61% since last year. Maroc Telecom won the race by adding up maximum new subscribers, as it’s base rose to 14.211 million in June from 13.697 million in March. Meditel grew to 7.201 million subscribers from 6.919 million.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Moroccan telecoms regulator ANRT has reported that the country’s fixed telephony subscribers rose by 20.48% quarter-on-quarter in April-June 2007 to 1.94 million, mostly thanks to the recent introduction of limited mobility wireless in the local loop (WiLL) services. According to the watchdog, fixed telephony penetration rose to 6.36% from 5.39% over the same period. The fixed line market had seen an unprecedented 27.24% rise in subscribers over the first quarter of the year to reach 1.61 million at the end of March, up from 1.266 million at the end of December 2006. Meanwhile, internet subscribers grew by 10% in the second quarter of 2007 to 476,909, from 433,399 at end-March and 341,859 at mid-2006. ADSL services accounted for 444,633 of the total customers, up from 424,713 the previous quarter and 331,746 a year ago. The fixed line monopoly of the incumbent Maroc Télécom was broken with the launch of fixed-wireless services by its mobile sector rival Médi Télécom (Meditel), backed by Portugal Telecom and Spain’s Telefónica, in May 2006. A third national licensee, Wana (formerly ISP Maroc Connect), owned by domestic conglomerate Omnium Nord Afrique (ONA), launched residential fixed and limited mobility services in January 2007 under the Bayn brand, and CDMA-based fixed-wireless internet access two months later. Meditel is planning to launch WiMAX fixed-wireless internet access, but is initially concentrating its online efforts on its cellular HSDPA service for laptop users, launched in April.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News