Optimization of the company's cash flow

B. Dynamical competition
While the Moroccan telecoms market remains under-saturated, its three mobile operators have
experienced robust growth in recent years, both at home and abroad. Meditel, which received a mobile
license in 2000, is the kingdom's first private operator, holding 36.69% of the market. While the company
performed strongly last year, registering a 17% growth in client base (to 7.4m) over the first three quarters
of 2008, it began to falter as consumer spending slowed, resulting in a 1% annual increase in turnover for
Q2 2009. Meditel's focus on lower-income markets impacted their average revenue per user, which fell by
16%, but the resulting expansion of the customer base helped drive up the country's mobile penetration
rate from 65.7% in 2007 to 74% in 2008. Meditel's biggest competitor is Maroc Telecom, holding 60.71% of
the market. A former state monopoly now controlled by French entertainment giant Vivendi, Maroc
Telecom is one of the region's fastest-growing multinational telecoms operators, actively pursuing
expansion across northwest Africa, including Gabon, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. MT has announced plans
to create a fibre-optic network connecting the Moroccan cities Laâyoune and Dakhla to Nouadhibou, which
would ultimately be extended to other North African countries.
Meditel and MT operated a duopoly until 2008, when the state regulator Agence Nationale de
Réglementation des Télécommunications waved in Wana, owned by Morocco's Omnium Nord Africain.
Though holding a tiny share (2.6%) of the voice market, this new player has captured a majority of
the 3G market (69.11%). Total subscribers for this new technology increased 527% in 2008. Earlier this year,
Wana sold a 31% stake for €228m to the partnership of two Kuwaiticompanies, mobile operator Zain and
Al Ajial Investment Fund Holding, to help finance the roll out of its 15-year 2G GSM network at the end of
2009. Moroccans pay a very high rate for Internet access but the connection is slower than dial-up. This is
because Moroccan consumers are not protected, nor do they know that Americans pay half the rate and
receive high speed internet access.
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