Rabat - The French telecom service provider Orange has increased its stake in Morocco’s telecom operator Meditel to 49 percent, after acquiring an additional 9% on Friday.
A joint statement said that the Deposit and Management Fund (CDG), FinanceCom and Orange signed the final document on Friday, increasing Orange’s interest in Méditel.
The increased stock in Meditel, which offers both landline and mobile services, follows an agreement drafted in 2010, added the statement.
This transaction will give Orange an additional 9% of Méditel’s capital along with the benefits set out in the December 2010 agreements.
Following this transaction, Orange now holds 49 percent of Méditel’s share capital, FinanceCom holds 25.5 percent while CDG owns 25.5 percent.
This comes at a time when multiple reports suggested Orange was planning onacquiring a controlling stake in Méditel to rename it Orange Morocco.
In February 2015, French weekly magazine L’Express said Orange is ready to pay a little more than 72 million Euros to take control of the second largest mobile operator in the Kingdom.
Created in 1999, Méditel has invested heavily in its networks, which now include over 5,400 km of fiber optic cable, including 870 km in Morocco’s ten largest urban areas.
Meditel was also the first operator to launch its 4G service in June 2015 after acquiring one of the three 4G licenses available from the Moroccan regulator ANRT in March 2015.
The telecom service provider has more than 13 million mobile subscribers, representing a 31 percent market share at the end of 2014.
Edited by Miriam El Ofir
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