Moroccan Regulator Plans Third Mobile-Licence Award for Q1 2009

ANRT said in a statement that telecommunications operators and other interested parties are invited to obtain the file detailing the tender beginning 3 November 2008 for a payment of 40,000 dirhams (US$4,603). Currently, there are two mobile operators in Morocco, the market leader Maroc Telecom and Meditel—a joint venture between Spain's Telefonica and Portugal Telecom—providing services for 30 million people. At the end of 2007, the operator reported a 66.5% market share. At the end of 2007, mobile penetration in Morocco was 64%, relatively high for the African continent.
Maroc Telecom provides both pre-paid and post-paid mobile services, for both these customer types it provides 3G services such as international multimedia messaging, address books, personalised ringtones, 3G mobile internet, instant mobile messaging, and business applications via BlackBerry. In 2007, it lowered access fees for prepaid plans and the initial fee for a line of packages, and continued to expand its range of handsets to equip all its customers with the latest technologies.

Outlook and Implications

• Potential Interest: With liberalisation already having gone through most of the MENA region, the availability of a new licence is now becoming a rare outcome. Wana, the telecommunications arm of Morocco's biggest conglomerate, ONA, has already expressed its interest in applying for the mobile licence. Although the licence could be more suited to Wana, the region's largest operators are sure to express interest; both Etisalat and Zain have expressed interest in nearly all the available mobile licences in 2007 and early 2008. MTN with significant operations in Sub Saharan Africa would also be another potential bidder.

• Competition: The addition of a third mobile operator in most markets dramatically reduces prices and should encourage additional value-added services, stimulating innovation among service provision. Maroc Telecom is currently the market leader with 66.5% a new operator would typically take market share from the existing market leader however Meditel has been in operation for eight years in Morocco and only managed a 33.5% market share. Although this puts it in a reasonable position, in other MENA markets second mobile operators have been obtaining a 30-40% market share in two years.