(Ecofin Agency) - At the invitation of its majority shareholder, the royal holding company Al Mada, the board of directors of the mobile operator Wana, better known as Inwi, decided to end the legal battle initiated in March 2018 against the incumbent operator Maroc Telecom for unfair competition.

Inwi's decision comes just days after the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ANRT) fined Maroc Telecom MAD3.3 billion (€310.2 million). The telecoms regulator accused the state-owned telecoms company of blocking competition in fixed-line broadband since 2013.

Inwi's backward step seems to reflect renewed confidence in the ANRT, which in the past had not stopped Maroc Telecom's anti-competitive actions. The telecoms regulator's once timid reaction to Maroc Telecom's refusal to apply its new regulatory decisions on unbundling, taken in December 2014; the multiple formal notices blithely trampled on by Maroc Telecom; the verbal battles between the incumbent operator and the telecoms regulator; had ended up leading competitors to the option of a legal battle, visibly fairer.

Commenting on the measure by the regulator, Wana says it is confident in the prospects for consolidation and development of the telecoms sector in Morocco.

Muriel Edjo