Morocco plans 4G licence auction in 2012 (Morocco)
Morocco will launch a tender in the autumn to sell 4G licences in a move that may allow the entry of a fourth operator to the market, according to a report by Reuters.
As per the report, Azdine el-Mountassir Billah, head of the Telecommunication Regulatory National Agency (ANRT), said that the regulator plans to launch an international tender for 4G licences in fall, 2012.
He added that ANRT plans to award the licences at the start of 2013 and expects they will be operational by the end of that year at the earliest.
Morocco’s telecommunications market is dominated by Vivendi’s Maroc Telecom, France Telecom’s affiliate Meditelecom and Wana, owned by a holding controlled by the Moroccan monarchy and Kuwait’s Zain.
The report revealed that while mobile penetration hovers around 110 percent of the 33 million population, Internet subscribers reached only 3.2 million by the end of 2011, rising 70 percent from the previous year, as per ANRT data.
Skype blocked in Morocco (Morocco)
The major Moroccan telecom company, Maroc Telecom, has blocked several sites that offer VoIP services, including Skype. It is speculated that the decision to block VoIP sites by Maroc has been taken, in an attempt to establish a monopoly in the telecom market.
According to sources, VoIP sites were not blocked by Maroc following any Government order, however, the telecom company is marketing its own VoIP service named MTBOX in the Moroccon market. Access to TeamSpeak and overseas call via VoIP were mainly hit by the block. Several complaints of difficulty in accessing VoIP sites were registered. Consumers complained about poor signals and dropped calls. It was speculated from thereon, that Marco might take the extreme step of banning the VoIP sites.
As per sources, the telecom operator has opted to block all the VoIP sites in order to erase the competition and to compel the users to stop using free calling services offered by sites including Skype, TeamSpeak, etc.
Being the default internet provider for a large number of Moroccan users, the company aims to compel the users towards paid calling, added sources. Maroc telecom was sold to the French Company Vivendi. The telecom operator was yielding high profits for Vivendi for several years and was fetching high revenues for the company on the grounds of its monopoly in the telecom market.
Teligent wins $1.3m messaging platform upgrade contract (Burkina Faso)
Teligent Telecom has secured a US$1.3 million contract to substantially extend the network messaging capacity for Telmob, a mobile network operator in Burkina Faso.
Teligent will increase the capacity of Telmob’s existing Teligent P90/E messaging and services platform, to accommodate expected demand from an anticipated 1 million new subscribers over the coming year.
The subscriber services supported by the Teligent platform are unified messaging, voice alerts and a range of SMS messaging options including Voice SMS (text to speech conversion). The platform extension project will start immediately, and is expected to complete during the second half of 2011.
According to Teligent CEO, Einar Lindquist, this project is a tremendous endorsement of the flexibility and scalability of their services platform, showing its ability to deliver advanced, future-proofed messaging solutions to MNOs and telcos. It also shows the ongoing value of call completion solutions such as unified messaging and text-based services in helping both fixed-line and mobile operators to drive revenues and add value to users.
Telmob is the leading mobile telecommunications operator in Burkina Faso, with the widest network coverage, the largest market share in terms of turnover and the largest network of distributors. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Onatel, the incumbent telecom operator in Burkina Faso. Onatel is part of the Maroc Telecom group.
Maroc Telecom Q3 consolidated earnings rise by 6.6%
Maroc Telecom, Morocco’s largest telecommunications company has reported its Q3 results. The company’s consolidated earnings increased by 6.6% to US$740 million, compared to last year.
According to the company, the national operator revenues amounted to US$994.71 millions in the 3rd quarter, posting a 5.2% rise compared to the previous, reflecting the positive trend of the operations during the year.
According to the company’s release, in late September, consolidated earnings from operations stood at US$1.26 billion, up 3.5 percent year-on-year, adding that this helped to maintain a margin at a still high level (44.3 percent) despite higher depreciation resulting from the continuation in a major investments program.
The group’s consolidated revenues for the first nine months of 2010 amounted to US$2.86 billion up 5.8% against the same period in 2009, noting that this performance was attributed to the group’s domestic market resilience and the continued growth of its African subsidiaries.
The group’s customer base reached more than 25 millions in late September, posting a 17% rise, which reflects a continuing sustained growth in the mobile customer base in Morocco (9.8 percent), and especially in subsidiaries in Africa, where it settled at nearly 6.3 million mobile costumers, up 58% compared to same period last year.
Morocco to reduce termination tariffs by 65%
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 65 percent reduction target for voice termination interconnection tariffs has been set by Moroccan telecommunications regulator ANRT for fixed and mobile calls between 2010-2013 for Maroc Telecom (IAM) and Medi Telecom. The percentage has been 70 for Wana Corporate.
2013 has been set for the end of asymmetric interconnection tariffs. The average target reduction for fixed termination by that year is between 24 and 40 percent.
All these measures are aimed at stimulating competition on the fixed and mobile markets in the interest of end users. Evaluation of the impact of regulated tariffs in place on market dynamics will be done during the second half of 2011 and readjustment will be done if necessary.
Maroc Telecom revenues rises 4.3% (Morocco)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Consolidated revenues of MAD7.437 billion (USD858 million) has been reported by Moroccan telecoms group Maroc Telecom in the first quarter of 2010, reflecting an increase of 4.3% compared to the same period in 2009.
The total customer base of the group stood at 22.4 million, up by 14% year-on-year, across divisions in Morocco, Mauritania (Mauritel), Burkina Faso (Onatel), Gabon (Gabon Telecom), Mali (Sotelma) and Belgium (Mobisud Belgium).
EBITDA reached MAD4.282 billion, up 1.5% y-o-y and consolidated operating income rose 0.5% year-on-year to MAD3.205 billion. Fixed, mobile and broadband operations of the company in Morocco garnered MAD6.095 million, down 0.7% year-on-year. Financial impact of marketing and communications efforts has been attributed the reason behind the gain.
Maroc Telecom launches mobile service Mobi Cash (Morocco)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Launch of mobile service Mobi Cash has been announced by the major wireless and fixed line telecom operator in Morocco, Maroc Telecom, in partnership with Comviva which provides mobile solutions beyond VAS.
Comviva’s mobiquit mCommerce solution will be used by the Moroccan operator enabling mobile operators and financial institutions to offer secured and cost-effective mobile banking, mobile wallet and mobile payment services.
According to Sabri Amireh, Vice President, MENA Region, Comviva, the company is focusing strongly on delivering mCommerce solutions for the rapidly growing markets, as demand for transformational mobile financial services is significant.
As per a research, mobile phone will be used by over 100 million users globally for international money transfers by 2013. The mobile international transfers are expected to exceed an average of one transaction per month. Western Europe, North America and Africa and Middle East (MEA) will account for more than 75% of the global international mobile money transfer gross transaction value by 2013.
Maroc Telecom’s revenue rises 2.8%, net income falls 1% (Morocco)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 1% year-on-year fall in 2009 net income has been posted by Moroccan full-service telco Maroc Telecom MAD9.43 billion (USD1.15 billion) on consolidated revenues that climbed by 2.8% to MAD30.34 billion. Group EBITDA for the year rose by 2.9% to MAD18.15 billion.
Net revenues of MAD25.76 billion in 2009 have been generated from the operations in Morocco 0.1% versus 2008. Due to the impact of promotional initiatives deployed to stimulate the market and maintain its leading position, the EBITDA went down 1.5% to MAD16.16 billion, and earnings from operations went down 3.5% year-on-year to MAD13.08 billion.
Maroc Telecom’s domestic mobile subscriber reached 15.27 million at end-December 2009 growing by 5.6% in twelve months.
Wana launches 3rd mobile operator in Morocco
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A new GSM mobile service, Inwi has been launched by Moroccan operator Wana. The third mobile operator in Morocco will cover three-quarters of the population. The GSM license was awarded to Wana in early 2009.
Prepaid offering with per-second billing as well as four postpaid plans with free on-net calls are included in the service along with a range of corporate offers.
Daily and weekly unlimited SMS plans, BlackBerry services, prepaid and postpaid 3G mobile internet using a USB modem, a Windows Live Messenger service, roaming are also offered by Inwi.
A wide range of handsets from Nokia, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and Motorola are also an exclusive offer to the customers. The company will compete against incumbent Maroc Telecom and Meditel on the GSM market.
