Reuters
Morocco launched fourth generation (4G) mobile phone licence auctions on Monday, the telecoms regulator said, as the country looks to increase access to the Internet.
The Telecommunications Regulatory National Agency will give further details to operators on Nov. 17.
Morocco had aimed to be one of the first African countries to introduce super-fast 4G telecom services, but the move was delayed since 2012. The regulatory did not give reasons for the delay.
Morocco’s telecommunications market is dominated by Etisalat’s Maroc Telecom, Orange affiliate Medi Telecom, and Inwi, owned by a holding company controlled by the Moroccan royal family and Kuwait’s Zain .
Mobile phone penetration hovers around 130 percent of Morocco’s 34 million population, and the country had 8 million Internet subscribers by the end of September 2014, up more then 60 percent from the previous year.
(Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; editing by Jason Neely and Louise Heavens)
