Maroc Telecom

MAROC TELECOM

Type	Public (Euronext: IAM)
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	Owned by Vivendi (51%) (2005)
Headquarters	Rabat, Morocco
Key people	Abdeslam Ahizoune, Chairman & CEO Arnaud Castille, CFO
Products	Land line phones, Mobile phone lines, Internet access
Revenue	$4,997.8 million (FY 2008)
Employees	11,178 (2005)
Parent	Vivendi
Website	http://www.maroctelecom.com

Maroc Telecom (Arabic: اتصالات المغرب‎; Itissalatt Al Maghreb; Acronym: IAM) is the main telecommunication company in Morocco.

IAM employs around 11,178 employees. It has 8 regional delegations with 220 offices present on all the territory of Morocco.

IAM is controlled by Vivendi which has a 53% share of its capital.^[1] The company is listed in both Casablanca Stock Exchange and Euronext Paris.

On June 1, 2006, IAM launched the IPTV package deployed by Huawei Technology via the ADSL line. The service was the first of its kind in Africa and the Middle East.

History

From postal services to telephony

Main article: Postal history of Morocco

The origin of IAM dates back to 1891 when King Hassan I created the first postal service of Morocco. In 1913, the Moroccan Postal Telephone and Telegraph was established before a Dahir (King's decree) related to the monopole of the state of Telegraphy and Telephony was published.

Telephony

In 1967, Morocco placed the first underwater cable between Tetouan, Morocco and Perpignan, France through the Mediterranean. A few years later, in 1970, a transmission via INTELSAT was introduced. The Telex service was then automated in 1971 just before the installating of a digital center in Fes.

Due to the advancement of Telecommunications around the globe, Morocco decided to create a new entity called ONPT (Office National des Postes et Télécommunications) to manage the industry. ONPT was responsible of the introduction of Analog Mobile Radiotelephony in 1987. Later on, in 1992, Morocco set up the first underwater optical fiber cable. Two years later, a GSM service was operational.

Internet

Main article: Menara, Maroc Telecom

The internet was introduced in Morocco by ONPT in 1995.

The birth of IAM

After the publication of a telecommunications' decree, Maroc Telecom (IAM) is founded in 1998.

Activities

IAM has three main activities:

Land lines

It consists of the provision of public phones throughout Morocco. The fixed park reaches 1,34 million lines.

Mobile phones

Mobile services are provided via a GSM network. Morocco Telecom counted 8,8 million customers at the end of December 2005. Its network covers 97% of the Moroccan population.

Internet services

IAM provides over more than 9,700 kilometres of optical fiber cables. The park is around 320.000 lines. The service is commercialized under the Menara brand.

Projects and investments

In July 2006 Maroc Telecom signed with the French telecommunications equipment company Alcatel a contract for a submarine cable network connection between Morocco and France. Morocco Telecom's aim is to upgrade the capacity of its services (i.e.broadband services, call centers...). The project cost € 26 million and was named "Atlas Offshore".^[2]

In December 2006, IAM invested in Burkina Faso’s ONATEL acquiring 51% of its capital.^[3]

Actual

This is one of the biggest companies in Morocco, it is a company privatized, but it already brings a best economy, comunication and other things. This company brings more than eleven thousand employees giving to the people another option to work.

See also

• Communications in Morocco
• Internet censorship in Morocco
• List of telephone operating companies
• Meditel

External links

• Maroc Telecom website
• Euronext analysis

References

1. ^ "Maroc Telecom". Vivendi. Archived from the original on 2008-02-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20080205002724/http://www.vivendi.com/corp/en/subsidiaries/index_maroc.php. Retrieved 2008-02-06. 
2. ^ Alcatel goes submarine to Morocco
3. ^ Maroc Telecom prend le contrôle d’Onatel - lefaso.net

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