Morocco’s National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (ARNT) has set December 31 as deadline for Maroc Telecom to comply with its request to provide offer for unbundling of local fiber optic loop and sub-loop to Meditel and Inwi.

Truly, the incumbent fixed-line operator was instructed by telecom regulator to provide its unbundling offer since October 15, 2015. ANRT’s new call follows its decision on December 9, 2015, defining Maroc Telecom as an all-segments public telecom network operator for the year 2016 whereas Meditel and Inwi are active mostly in the mobile SMS sector.

According to ANRT, Maroc Telecom, which dominates the fixed-line, mobile-line voice traffic, leased lines markets; the wholesale access market to local and sub-local wired constitutive (physical) infrastructure and the wholesale access market to facilities; is to provide Méditel and Inwi alternatives. These should allow for dark optic fiber to be used all over the country in case facilities are not present or not adequate enough to meet the needs required for passage of transmission/distribution infrastructures.

"The analysis of the significant influence of public telecommunications network operators resulted from the examination of statistics for subscribers groups, traffic, turnover, a number of evidence which define market experience, investment capacity, control that the operator has on means to access end users and the absence of potential competition," said the ANRT.