30 years ago, the mobile phone, which had just made its debut in Morocco, was already experiencing a boom. Six companies shared a market of 4,000 subscribers, for a turnover of nearly… 150 MDH.
No, the car (or mobile) phone is no longer a luxury and a gadget for the “show off”. Far from it. Today, the wind of liberalism blowing vigorously (but reasonably?) over our economy has produced an elite of hurried decision-makers. And our telecom infrastructures not being yet what they should be (judge by the number of telephone booths installed along our road network…), it became – more than ever – urgent to communicate with its headquarters. wherever we are. And the mobile phone was. Thus, in 1989, the ONPT inaugurated a special mobile radio telephone network with an initial capacity of 1,600 subscribers.
In fact, the work of installing said network dates back to 1986 when said office instructed the Swedish company Ericson to take the matter in hand.
An absolute monopoly
Until 1991, the ONPT exercised an absolute monopoly over the distribution and installation of any equipment intended for this purpose. Through him, Ericson also reigned supreme in a then nascent market.
Initially, the “network” only served localities bordering two roads: Casablanca-Rabat-Fez and Casablanca-Marrakech-Agadir. Today, the mobile phone market covers practically the entire national territory and has around 4,000 subscribers.
Since the abolition of the ONPT and Ericson monopoly in 1991 and the “privatization” of the sector, six companies have shared the market. But the largest share of the pie still goes to the Swedish manufacturer which, through its Moroccan representative, Moena, appropriates more than 50% of a booming market. The five other companies are Bell Canada operating the Finnish brand Nokia, Philips using the Dutch brand of the same name, Radio Mobile Marocaine (RMM) distributing English Carryphon equipment, WAFANÉGOCE representing the Swiss brand DANCALL LOGIC and finally, Orec, which also sells Scandinavian equipment, the Finnish Benefon. When we know that the average price of installing a car phone, in these fixed and portable formulas, is around 28,000 DH excluding taxes, we can imagine the lion’s share that Ericson is carving out on a market valued at more than 150 MDH.
historical relationships
It is not certain that the Swedes will retain their leadership in Morocco with regard to the installation of future base stations whose role is to ensure the continuity of the radio beam and therefore of communication, or even other central stations, but the know-how and experience acquired, coupled with “historic” relations with the ONPT, suggest so.
Unless the law of the market overturns feelings, which there is every reason, as a good manager, to believe. For the record, it should be specified that only one central station exists for the moment (in Casablanca) for about thirty base stations, which explains why the use of a single and unique interurban code (02) is necessary if the you don’t want your interlocutor to be… absent subscribers. The extension of the network comes up against the same technical constraints as the normal telephone network, to which it is moreover interconnected.
Device sales are therefore at the mercy of the ONPT services, which alone can decide on the increase in the number of channels per city, which makes any prediction of operator results uncertain.
One thing is certain, however, and that is that the country’s liberal option is the catalyst capable of generating the extensions required to meet a demand that is bound to grow. Those carried out in Tangier, Tetouan, Oujda and Ifrane, as well as a second base station in Casablanca, El Jadida and Ouarzazate, bodes well for a bright future for mobile telephony. M.BENFADIL