28 July 2022

Maroc Telecom (MT) has been hit with a US$238m fine for failing to comply with fair competition rules.

Morocco’s National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ANRT)  said the fine is the culmination of an accumulative fine that it imposed on IAM back in January 2020 for violating fair competition.

"Maroc Telecom has abused its dominant position in the market and blocked competitors’ access to unbundling on its network and the fixed market for the last seven years," ANRT said in its initial ruling.

At the time, ANRT encouraged MT to take action to resolve this issue. Recommendations included implementing measures that promote fair competition.

IAM was mainly accused of monopolicing Morocco’s telecommunication infrastructure and preventing other telecom companies from exploiting the network optimally.

ANRT set a daily fine of US$400,000 for every day that IAM failed to comply with the watchdog's fair competition instructions.

MT has 30 days to appeal.