telecompaper
The year-on-year growth rate in Morocco’s mobile internet connections accelerated to 11.2 percent in 2019 from 2.2 percent in 2018. The country recorded 2.4 million net additions across the year, to reach a mobile internet base of 23.7 million at end-December, representing 93 percent of the overall internet market. Including fixed broadband and other access networks, Morocco closed 2019 with 25.4 million internet subscriptions and an internet penetration rate of 71.3 percent, up from 64.7 percent in 2018.
In the fixed broadband segment, ADSL customers increased by 58,000 in 2019 to stand at 1.5 million at end-December. Over the same period, the number of FTTP lines rose to 121,237, from 73,169 at end-2018.
Morocco’s three mobile networks had a combined mobile telephony base of 46.7 million, up 4.3 percent year-on-year. Out of this total, LTE subscriptions rose 63.7 percent to reach 15.7 million. The country’s mobile penetration rate increased to 131.1 percent (+4 percentage points since 2018). Prepaid net additions totalled 1.1 million over the year, for an overall prepaid customer base of 42.0 million, while postpaid subscriptions grew by 802,000 to reach 4.7 million.
In the fourth quarter, Maroc Telecom continued to lead the market with a 42.9 percent share of mobile connections, up from 42.6 percent in the previous quarter and 42.5 percent in the year-earlier period. Inwi gained ground slightly, ending 2019 with 23.0 percent, while Orange saw its market share decline to 34.1 percent (34.7% in Q3 2018 and 34.6% in Q4 2018).
