Maroc Telecom’s capital expenditures in its sub-Saharan African subsidiaries operating under the Moov Africa brand reached MAD7.96 billion ($800.1 million) in 2024, according to the company’s annual financial report for the year published on Friday, February 14. This figure represents a growth rate of 75% compared to the MAD4.54 billion invested by the company in 2023.
The company did not detail the precise allocation of the funds invested, but it indicates that 3.54 billion dirhams were devoted to the purchase of frequencies and licenses. “The evolution of the amount of licenses is mainly explained by the renewal of Mobile licenses at Sotelma [Mali, Editor’s note] and Moov Africa Chad,” the company declared. In Mali, for example, the operator paid 160 billion CFA francs ($256.2 million) to renew its telecoms license.
This comes amid growing momentum in Maroc Telecom’s investments in its sub-Saharan African subsidiaries. In 2022, the company invested 4.5 billion dirhams, compared to 2.98 billion dirhams in 2021. The company even invested 150 million euros ($157.2 million) in the construction of a new 9,414 km long submarine fiber optic cable to serve its Moov Africa subsidiaries.
Subsidiaries in Sub-Saharan Africa are gradually becoming the group’s main growth driver. At the end of 2024, Moov Africa recorded a turnover of 18.7 billion dirhams, up 4.6%, driven by the growth of Mobile Data (+15.6%), Fixed Internet (+21.1%) and Mobile Money (+14.4%). Meanwhile, turnover in Morocco fell by 2%, to 19.1 billion dirhams. A trend that is confirmed after 2023, where revenues in Sub-Saharan Africa had increased by 6.6%, while those in Morocco had remained stable.
Maroc Telecom is facing increased competition in a saturated domestic Moroccan market, where players such as Orange and Ooredoo are exerting strong pressure. Conversely, in sub-Saharan Africa, the growth potential remains significant: in 2023, only 44% of the population estimated at 1.2 billion by the World Bank had access to mobile services and 27% to mobile Internet, according to the Global Association of Mobile Phone Operators (GSMA). The rise of mobile money also accompanies this dynamic, in a region where a large part of the population remains unbanked. The region had 234 million active mobile money accounts in 2023, according to the GSMA.
Despite sub-Saharan Africa’s potential, Maroc Telecom faces increasing competition from players such as Airtel Africa, Orange, Airtel Africa and MTN Group. The latter has around 230 million subscribers across all its markets in the region, including Benin and Côte d’Ivoire, which it shares with Maroc Telecom. In Côte d’Ivoire, for example, Moov Africa held a market share of 19.6% as of June 30, 2024, compared to 27.8% for MTN and 52.6% for Orange, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ARTCI). In Benin, Moov had a market share of 33.45%, behind MTN (49.06%), but ahead of Celtiis (17.49%), according to official statistics.
Source: Agency EcoFin
