Maroc Telecom (IAM), Morocco’s leading telco in terms of subscribers, has published its financial results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2016, reporting a 3.3% increase in revenues, from MAD34.134 billion (USD3.3 billion) to MAD35.252 billion. The improvement was driven by the group’s international operations, which grew by 9.4% year-on-year (7.1% on a comparable basis), and a marginal growth in the group’s domestic market (1.0%). Meanwhile, Maroc Telecom’s EBITDA increased by 1.0% in the period under review, to MAD16.909 billion; on a like-for-like basis EBITDA increased 0.9%, with the progress attributed to a 1.3% decline in the Moroccan unit’s EBITDA, although this was partly compensated by a 5.5% growth in EBITDA from the company’s international operations. Maroc Telecom’s consolidated earnings from operations reached MAD10.468 billion at 31 December 2016, a 1.2% increase y-o-y after the incorporation of a MAD255 million restructuring provision for a voluntarily redundancy plan in Morocco, while net income amounted to MAD5.598 billion, flat when compared to 2015.
The operator has published its outlook for FY 2017, forecasting stable revenues and EBITDA for the twelve months to end-December, while CAPEX is expected to amount to approximately 23% of revenues, excluding frequencies and licenses.
In operational terms, Maroc Telecom reported annualised growth of 6.3% for its consolidated customer base, with the total number of customers passing the 54 million mark at end-December 2016. In Morocco, wireless subscribers increased by 1.1% y-o-y to reach 21.255 million, up from 21.017 million in December 2015; the telco’s 3G/4G user base grew by 20.6% to 7.844 million, while broadband customers increased by 9.2% y-o-y to 1.241 million. In Niger, wireless numbers increased by 75.2% to 1.418 million users, while Cote d’Ivoire saw 32.8% increase in mobile subscribers y-o-y to 6.840 million by 31 December. Further, mobile subscriber increases were also seen in Benin (3.727 million, up 14.1%), Gabon (1.690 million, 5.8%), Togo (2.463 million, 15.0%) and Burkina Faso (7.017 million, 3.8%), while Mali and Mauritania reported 4.6% and 6.4% annual declines in respective wireless subscription bases to 7.087 million and 1.984 million, respectively.
Abdeslam Ahizoune, chairman of Maroc Telecom’s management board, stated: ‘Maroc Telecom confirms the return of growth in all its activities. This result is thanks to major investment efforts in the high and very high speed mobile and fixed-line networks in Morocco as well as in its African subsidiaries. The Maroc Telecom group is reasserting its leadership position with the best quality networks, both technical and commercial, supporting the strong growth in its customers’ data usage, all while continuing to optimise costs.’