Morocco’s three mobile network operators have submitted applications for 4G licences, the regulator announced late last week.
L’Agence Nationale de Réglementation des Télécommunications (ANRT) said Maroc Telecom, Meditel and Wana Corporate, which operates as Inwi, lodged their bids by the 12 March deadline.
The regulator has opened the bids and will now begin assessing them. The applications will be judged based on a series of criteria, including plans for infrastructure deployment, coverage, service quality, diversity and attractiveness of offers, and consistency of the business plan and strategy, as well as on the companies’ financial bids.
ANRT did not say when it will announce the winners of the contest.
There were 44.1 million mobile subscribers in Morocco at the end of 2014, up 4% on the previous year, according to the latest figures published by the ANRT. That amounts to penetration of 133%, the regulator said.
The market shares of the three network operators changed very little during the year; Meditel made a slight gain of 1.6 percentage poi nts, mainly at the expense of market leader Maroc Telecom. At the end of December Maroc Telecom served 41.3% of the market, Meditel claimed 30.8% and Inwi 27.9%.
Meanwhile , the fixed-line market is much smaller and is in decline.
Morocco had 2.5 million fixed lines in service and a penetration rate of just 7.5% at the end of last year, down from a peak of 3.7 million and 11.9% in 2010. Traffic also slipped to 3.9 million minutes in 2014 from 4.6 million the year before.
However, Internet subscriptions are on the up. Morocco had just shy of 10 million Internet subscriptions at end-2014, up from 5.8 million a year earlier. ADSL connections are still growing, but the bulk of Internet use in Morocco is on 3G. There were almost 9 million 3G subscriptions, while ADSL subs are still under the 1 million mark.
Thus it is clear why the government is keen to push ahead with 4G licences.
In addition to providing faster connection speeds, "the arrival of 4G may also bring changes in the consumption patterns of users who are already inclined towards mobile," the ANRT said last week.
