The launch of Morocco’s new telecom operator, Wana, was greeted with much popular relish, revealing the appetite Moroccans have for the fruits of telecommunications liberalization. The high-profile launch comes on the heels of the decoupling of Maroc Télécom’s network and ahead of measures to ensure number portability between operators.
As a sign of the competition gearing up, the newly re-branded Wana (formerly Maroc Connect) launched its Bayn array of services in both the mobile and fixed-line markets on Feb. 7. The company’s offices were swamped by interested customers, with some 24,000 signing up on the first day, over twice the amount expected.
Through an investment of $703 million, the new operator, controlled by two holding groups close to the royal family, ONA and SNI, expects to turn a profit by 2010. Having installed 500 base stations across the kingdom, Wana has tapped into the 4,600 km fiber-optic network installed by the electrical group ONE (Office National de l’Electricité).
While the two existing operators, Maroc Télécom and Méditel, have kept their market shares relatively stable over 2006, Wana states it plans to aggressively gain up to 20% market share in the next three years. Maroc Télécom still dominates the market with 67% of all lines.
Industry insiders are hoping for big things with the new competition in town, expecting a substantial growth in associated telecoms services.
“The new operator, Wana, is welcome to the market, as the competition will drive improvements in service and range of products on the market, while at the same time providing a driving force for our sales,” said Jarmo Santala, Nokia’s general manager for North and West Africa.
Competing for services
A number of technologies are to be implemented by Wana to drive the competition for services, including using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, rather than GSM, which will allow the deployment of large-scale fixed telephone and internet services over wider areas, thus optimizing the capacities of Wana’s network.
This noteworthy start was also witnessed at the corporate service level, as Wana has plans to install the local copper infrastructure at Casashore, an industrial park specializing in offshoring. It is estimated that the companies based at Casashore, which is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2007, will benefit from a 30% fall in prices.
The success of the new offer has bred its own problems, however. The excess demand on the first day of services overloaded the network and disrupted communications. In addition, the Bayn numbers are not accessible to subscribers of the two other networks, Méditel and Maroc Télécom, as yet.
These issues, to be resolved shortly according to Wana, arose despite the uncoupling of the local copper loop maintained by the dominant Maroc Télécom. The National Agency for the Regulation of Telecommunications (l’Agence Nationale de Réglementation des Télécommunications, or, ANRT) approved the technical and tariff offer proposed by Maroc Télécom on Jan. 29.
This first phase of the liberalization specifies that, retroactively from Jan. 1, Maroc Télécom’s competitors can offer services using the local loop built and maintained by Maroc Télécom for a fee of $5.90 per user. This phased liberalization process will culminate in the full opening of the local loop on July 8, 2008, at which time all telecoms service providers will be able to use the local loop without paying a fee.
The reduction in this interconnection price should translate into further savings for consumers, as telecoms operators are allowed to compete without having to invest in building their own local loop copper infrastructure.
Additionally, number portability across service providers will have been introduced on March 1. This step will help consumers move between operators, allowing for a more fluid pricing structure.
“The upcoming implementation of number portability between mobile operators proves the level of cooperation within the industry. 2007 is set to be a very healthy year for the telecoms market,” said Santala.
As Inigo Serrano, CEO of Méditel, put it, “The lock-in effect will be broken and consumers will be free to choose an operator without concern about changing their number. We have been working with the other operators and the ANRT for a few months now to organize this transition, which will take effect soon.”
Analysts, however, do not believe these moves will impact Maroc Télécom’s market share, given that penetration rates are set to progress at a healthy rate.
While the market penetration rate for mobile phones rose to 53.4% at the close of 2006 (reaching over 16 million subscribers), fixed-line penetration actually dropped by 5.6% over the same period, to stabilize at a mere 4.24% of the population. With the weakest fixed-line penetration rate in the Maghreb, Moroccans seem to prefer mobile rather than fixed connections, a trend noticed in many other African countries with poor fixed-line architecture.
