Three in for 3G licences.(MOROCCO)(Brief article)

Three companies are set to be awarded by late July licences for third-generation (3G) services by telecoms regulator Agence Nationale de Reglementation des Telecommunications (ANRT).

The two GSM incumbents, Meditel, a joint venture of Spain's Telefonica and Portugal Telecom, and Maroc Telecom, the local subsidiary of France's Vivendi Universal, are in line to take two of the licences. The third, which is exclusively for 3G services, is set to be awarded to the local Maroc Connect. Four companies submitted bids by 14 July for the licences. The other bidder was Nejma Telecom Maroc, a subsidiary of Kuwait's Wataniya. The winners will pay a fee of MD 360 million ($41.6 million) as a contribution towards technical fees (MEED 12:5:06). Maroc Connect in mid-July awarded a contract to China's ZTE to supply the technology for a new nationwide telecoms network offering enhanced voice and data services. The network will deploy all-internet-protocol code division multiple access 2000 technology. The solution, which is intended to offer vocoder savings, savings on transmission costs and improved voice quality will take three years to develop. ZTE announced in April that it was the first telecom equipment provider with the capability to deploy the new technology for commercial use worldwide.