UPDATE 1-Maroc Telecom Q4 revenue jumps 30 pct

Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:45am GMT
 
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RABAT/PARIS, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Maroc Telecom (IAM.CS), Morocco's dominant telecoms company, reported a 30 percent gain in fourth-quarter revenue on Monday as promotions and special offers boosted growth at its mobile phone subsidiaries.

Revenue in the three-month period climbed to 7.21 billion dirhams ($931 million), while full-year 2007 sales grew 22 percent to 27.53 billion dirhams, it said in a statement.

French media and telecoms group Vivendi (VIV.PA) increased its stake in Maroc Telecom to 53 percent from 51 percent in October.

Traders said domestic market growth looked to be on track despite stiff competition from Maroc Telecom's rivals Wana and Meditel -- a joint venture of Spain's Telefonica (TEF.MC) and Portugal Telecom (PTC.LS).

Maroc Telecom has fended off its nimble new rivals through heavy network investment and cut-price airtime deals that kept its client base growing fast in the country of 33 million.

"For now they're seeing no sign of saturation -- every month they propose new products which maintain the rhythm of growth," said Mohamed Bachir Tazi, a trader at Casablanca Finance Intermediation. "They just launched 3G services and that could boost sales further."

Profits from Maroc Telecom's lucrative domestic operations are funding expansion elsewhere in Africa. Tazi said revenue consolidated from its affiliates Gabon Telecom and Mauritel showed good progress.

"The good news was from the mobile activities abroad, which saw the biggest increases," he said.  Continued...

 

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