Qatar's Qtel eyeing stake in Maroc Telecom-paper

 

PARIS Oct 22 (Reuters) - Qatar Telecom, the telecoms group controlled by Qatar, has expressed interest in Vivendi's controlling stake in Maroc Telecom, Morocco's largest telecoms operator, as part of the French media group's strategic review, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

QTel is preparing itself to make a bid for a 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom but it faces competition from Etisalat, the United Arab Emirates-based telecoms company, the paper said, citing two sources close to the matter.

Earlier this month, Vivendi asked Credit Agricole and Lazard to gauge appetite the 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom without giving them a formal mandate for the sale, sources familiar with the matter had told Reuters.

Vivendi declined to comment.

Morocco’s main telecom provider blocks access to Skype and other VoIP services

 

According to Moroccan Blog, Moroccan Geeks [French], Skype and all other VoIP services have been blocked in the country, pointing to an article from Moroccan newspaper Al Sabaheya confirming the news [Arabic].

While services are more often than not blocked as a result of authoritative governments, Skype usually finds itself targeted by mobile operators and telecom providers, as was the case for Skype itself in Egypt. In Morocco, it would appear the move has been made in an attempt to create a monopoly on calling options available in the country.

According to Moroccan Geeks, Skype is a popular mode of communication in the country, adding that it, along with other VoIP services including TeamSpeak and Viber have also been affected by the block.

The blog goes on to say that the telecom provider is “protecting itself against competition, pushing customers to use its own services instead of free services like Skype, TeamSpeak or Viber.”

According to the newspaper, Al Sabaheya, the move comes at a time when Maroc Telecom is promoting its own VoIP service, MTBOX.

Over the past few months, accessing Skype in Morocco has proved difficult, with complaints of poor call quality and dropped calls, and at the time, users speculated whether it was an intentional move on the part of Maroc Telecom.

With the latest blog posts, tweets and Facebook posts, coming out of Morocco, it’s safe to assume that Skype and other VoIP services are no longer welcome on Maroc Telecom’s network.