The fee, made payable to the Treasury, relates to Maroc’s ‘anti-competitive practices’ around unbundling. According to a statement by the regulator, Maroc is found to have been “preventing or delaying competitors’ access to unbundling and fixed market”.
They added that such behaviour is “abuse of a dominant position” and in direct conflict to article 7 of law 104-12 that relates to freedom of pricing and competition.
The news follows a previous report in 2018, where fixed and mobile operator Inwi, complained to ANRT that Maroc Telecom has refused to give access to its infrastructure. At the time, Inwi was claiming compensation of $622 million for not having access to Maroc’s copper broadband connectivity.
In addition to the fines, ANRT has also levied a number of injunctions complete with daily penalty payments should Maroc continue to not comply with the rules, with the goal to “remedy behaviour and allow the development of competition in the fixed broadband segment likely to benefit in particular more, like mobile, to consumers and businesses”.
