Maroc Telecom loses appeal against $635M fine

The Commercial Court of Appeal in Casablanca has upheld a previous ruling ordering Maroc Telecom to pay 6.3 billion Moroccan dirhams (US$635 million) in compensation to competitor Wana Corporate (known commercially as Inwi) for unfair competition practices.

The case began in 2021 when Inwi accused Maroc Telecom of abusing its dominant position in the Moroccan market leading to profit losses for Inwi.

The Commercial Court of Rabat ordered Maroc Telecom to compensate Inwi in January 2024, and Maroc Telecom said it would appeal, but has now lost the case in the appeals court.

The fine is more than Maroc Telecom's 2023 net profit of MAD6.1 billion (US$615 million).

Mobile competition in Morocco

Maroc Telecom is the largest mobile operator in Morocco with 34.6% market share at the end of March 2024, according to statistics from market research company Omdia, a sister company of Connecting Africa.

Orange Morocco was close behind with 33.4% market share while Inwi was third place with around 32% market share.

Back in mid-2021 Maroc Telecom's market share was higher at about 40% compared to Inwi's 26% but over the years competition in the market has got tighter between the three mobile operators.

Maroc Telecom is the largest mobile operator in Morocco with 34.6% market share at the end of March 2024. (Source: Image by garetsvisual on Freepik)

In 2020, Morocco's National Agency of Telecommunications Regulation (ANRT) also ordered Maroc Telecom to pay MAD3.3 billion ($333 million) for contravening the country's antitrust regulations on the implementation of local loop unbundling (LLU).

Maroc Telecom is 53% owned by the UAE's Etisalat (e&), while the Moroccan government owns 22% of the company. It is also listed on Casablanca stock exchange and on Euronext Paris.

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Outside of Morocco the operator also has subsidiaries in Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire and Togo, with a total customer base of around 77.1 million across the group.

*Top image source: Image by freepik - AI-generated.

— Paula Gilbert, Editor, Connecting Africa