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MAROC TELECOM
Type	Public (Euronext: EX), (NYSE: V)
Founded	Owned by Vivendi (51%) (2005)
Headquarters	Rabat, Morocco
Key people	Abdeslam Ahizoune, Chairman & CEO Arnaud Castille, CFO
Industry	Telecommunications
Products	Land line phones, Mobile phone lines, Internet access
Employees	11,178 (2005)
Website	[1]

Maroc Telecom (Arabic: اتصالاث المغرب‎; Ittisalat Al Maghrib; Acronym: IAM) is the main telecommunication company in Morocco.

IAM employs around 11,178 employees. It has 8 regional delegations with 220 offices present on all the territory of Morocco.

IAM is controlled by Vivendi Universal which has a 51% share of its capital. The company is listed in both Casablanca Stock Exchange and Euronext Paris.

In June 1, 2006, IAM launched the Internet television package via the ADSL line. The service is the first of its kind in Africa and the Middle East.

Contents 1 History 1.1 From postal services to telephony 1.2 Telephony 1.3 Internet 1.4 The birth of IAM 2 Activities 2.1 Land lines 2.2 Mobile phones 2.3 Internet services 3 Projects and investments 4 See also 5 External links 6 References and notes

Main article: Postal history of Morocco

The origin of IAM dates back to 1891 when King Hassan I created the first postal service of Morocco. In 1913, the Moroccan Postal Telephone and Telegraph was established before a Dahir (King's decree) related to the monopole of the state of Telegraphy and Telephony was published.

In 1967, Morocco placed the first underwater cable between Tetouan, Morocco and Perpignan, France through the Mediterranean. A few years later, in 1970, a transmission via INTELSAT was introduced. The Telex service was then automated in 1971 just before the installating of a digital center in Fes.

Due to the advancement of Telecommunications around the globe, Morocco decided to create a new entity called ONPT (Office National des Postes et Télécommunications) to manage the industry. ONPT was responsible of the introduction of Analog Mobile Radiotelephony in 1987. Later on, in 1992, Morocco set up the first underwater optical fiber cable. Two years later, a GSM service was operational.

Main article: Menara, Maroc Telecom

The internet was introduced in Morocco by ONPT in 1995.

After the publication of a telecommunications' decree, Maroc Telecom (IAM) is founded in 1998.

IAM has three main activities:

It consists os the provision of public phones throughout Morocco. The fixed park reaches 1,34 million lines.

Mobile services are provided via a GSM network. Morocco Telecom counted 8,8 million customers at at the end of December 2005. Its network covers 97% of the Moroccan population.

IAM provides over more than 9,700 kilometres of fibre optic cables. The park is around 320.000 lines. The service is commercialized under the Menara brand.

In July 2006 Maroc Telecom signed with the French telecommunications equipment company Alcatel a contract for a submarine cable network connection between Morocco and France. Morocco Telecom's aim is to upgrade the capacity of its services (i.e.broadband services, call centers...). The project cost € 26 million and was named "Atlas Offshore". ^[1]

In December 2006, IAM invested in Burkina Faso’s ONATEL acquiring 51% of its capital. ^[2]

• Communications in Morocco
• List of telephone operating companies
• Meditel

• Maroc Telecom website
• Euronext analysis

1. ^ Alcatel goes submarine to Morocco
2. ^ Maroc Telecom prend le contrôle d’Onatel - lefaso.net