MOROCCO – Maroc Telecom, one of Africa’s most capitalized companies, has released its financial results for the first of 2020, revealing a positive performance despite the economic downturn occasioned by the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the financial report, Maroc Telecom (IAM) reported an impressive turnover of MAD 18.3 billion ($1.92 billion) during the first 6 months of 2020.

This, according to Morocco World News, is a 2.7% increase compared to the earning that the Moroccan telecommunications giant posted during the same period last year.

The major drivers of Maroc Telecom’s revenues were mobile data and revenues collected from the company’s subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Revenues from mobile data alone increased by 15% in Morocco while those from Maroc Telecom’s 10 sub-Saharan subsidiaries rose by 27%.

Morocco however suffered a major setback in the first year of 2020 after it was handed a US$346 million fine by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency’s (ANRT) MAD 3.3 billion ($346 million) for engaging in anti-competitive practices.

On the International front, Maroc Telecom consolidated its African presence through establishing new regulatory texts, notably in Mali, Gabon, Benin, and Niger.

Maroc Telecom like many businesses did not escape the COVID-19 crisis unscathed as it recorded a decrease in telecommunications spending among Moroccans, mainly due to the pandemic.

Telecom Maroc’s client base outside Morocco has rose significantly over the past years and now accounts for over 65% of the company’s total customers.

The main reason behind the significant expansion of IAM’s client base, according to the report, is the penetration of the Chadian market.

In 2019, the Moroccan telecommunications giant acquired 100% of the shares in Tigo Chad, a leading telecommunications company in the Central African country significantly boosting the company’s total number of subscribers.

Telecom Maroc first ventured into the international market when it set up operations in Mauritania in 2001.

This expansion was quickly followed by operations in Burkina Faso, Gabon and Mali.

In 2015, Maroc Telecom made an unprecedented market expansion move by establishing operations in Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Togo, Niger, and the Central African Republic all in the same year.

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