Morocco's smartphone penetration rate among mobile phone users rose to 73.4 percent at the end of 2017 from 67.0 percent a year earlier, according to a national representative survey carried out by national regulator ANRT. Among smartphone owners, 86 percent (representing 19.6 million users) accessed the internet from their handset. Across the population as a whole, internet take-up increased to 70.2 percent of households, from 68.5 percent at end-2016.
At geographical level, rural households continued to lag behind in both fixed and mobile internet adoption, with only 53.1 percent able to access the internet on any device (78.5% in urban areas).
Residential customers with a fixed broadband connection dropped slightly to 19.4 percent of households in 2017, after rising by 4 percentage points during 2016 to reach 20.7 percent.
Looking at device ownership, 58.4 percent of households were equipped with a computer or tablet, up from 54.9 percent in 2016. Laptop computers saw a significant uplift, with a penetration rate of 48.0 percent, from 40.7 percent a year earlier. Conversely, ownership of tablets dropped to 19.7 percent, from 26.1 percent in 2016.