At the end of December last year, Meditel had 7.9 million customers and Maroc Telecom 14.5 million.

Both companies are preparing for the arrival of a third operator after Morocco's telecoms regulator awarded a second generation (2G) licence to Wana, a subsidiary of Groupe ONA, for an undisclosed sum at the beginning of February (MEED 5:2:09).

Groupe ONA manages the business interests of Morocco's royal family.

Wana already operates a limited mobile phone service through its third generation (3G) licence. It needs the 2G licence to build a nationwide network capable of providing voice and data services to its customers.

Wana had 435,000 mobile phone customers at the end of December.