Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/22/2013 -- The North African telecoms markets continue to demonstrate variable growth on several levels. Symptomatic of this trend is a lack of creativity and diversity in the type and scope of services on offer, even in mature markets such as Morocco and Tunisia, where mobile broadband is taking off. Nevertheless, Morocco, Libya and Algeria appear to be on the brink of new growth potential as the sale of Maroc Telecom progresses, Libya prepares for a third mobile operator and Algeria issues 3G licences. Although these developments bode well for increased competition and liberalisation in North African telecoms markets, their political and business environments remain challenging and prone to sudden collapse.

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Key Data

- Mobile growth continues to be driven by prepaid services, which does little to add value to mobile ARPUs and income relating to non-voice services. However, in Morocco and Algeria, there are signs that operators are seeing better growth in the more lucrative postpaid market. More needs to be done to develop locally relevant content if services are to appeal to more consumers.
- The possibility for increased foreign investment in Libya, through a third mobile licence and/or the privatisation of Libyana, and the launch of 3G in Algeria should boost competition and open up untapped growth potential in the two markets from 2014.
- Fixed-line and broadband growth remains variable as demand for traditional fixed telephone lines fluctuates and affordability issues continue to hamper broadband adoption. Maroc Telecom has announced ambitious plans to invest in its fixed broadband network, but this may be undone by a likely upcoming change in ownership at the company.

Key Trends & Developments

Despite no resolution on Djezzy's ownership structure between VimpelCom and the Algerian government, the Autorite de Regulation de la Poste et des Telecommunications (ARPT) announced a public bid opening for the award of 3G licences. On September 15 2013, the regulator accepted bids from all three mobile operators, Mobilis, Nedjma and Djezzy. The ARPT plans to review each proposal and announce the successful bidders on October 15 and successful bidders are expected to launch 3G services in Algiers, Constantine, Oran and Ouargia by December 1 2013. At the time of writing, state-owned operator Mobilis had reportedly already imported 80 containers of 3G infrastructure equipment.

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