For a long time reserved by companies holding telecom licenses – Maroc Telecom, Meditel and Inwi – the directory enquiries market segment may see an upheaval in the coming days and become the new battlefield for telecoms. The state is studying opening the market to new companies, not holding a telecom licence. The bill n˚121-12 relating to this matter, modifying and completing the law on telecoms, is currently under review in parliament.

Once enacted, the law will allow new companies to compete with telecom operators in the supply to the Moroccan public of information on drugstores on duty, addresses for restaurants, hotels, travel agencies or car rental services, exchange rates, the weather, prayer or train times, television programs, etc. The costs of this service could also drop. The Moroccan newspaper Liberation indicates that the National Regulatory Agency for Telecommunications (ANRT) said that “potential investors are already lining up, they are only waiting for the law which is under review by parliament (…) the enactment of this bill will pinpoint a major change in the sense that it will be possible to authorise the establishment and supply of information services to companies other than the telecoms operators, according to the provisions of this bill”.

If the law concerning telephone enquires is passed, companies interested in providing this service will have to take part in the call for tenders from ANRT. But prior to this, they will have to ensure that they comply with the required criteria, particularly to establish the company under Moroccan law, to abide by the conditions set out by the law, to have experience in the provision of said services.