The Mauritanian government plans to launch an internet cable crossing the Moroccan Sahara to strengthen the internet connection in the country.
Mauritania has been using the “African Coast to Europe (ACE)” cable ever since 2011 to supply itself with high-speed internet services.
Maroc Telecom is negotiating with Mauritania to implement this 1,600 km wide internet cable, which will head from the Moroccan Sahara to Mauritania.
This project has been in discussion ever since the change of name of the Moroccan company from Mauritel SA to Moov Mauritel.
According to the Mauritanian analyst Yacoub Ould Cheikh Sidiya, if the project is carried out, it will display Nouakchott’s recognition of the Moroccan sovereignty in the Sahara, reported Mauritanian media.
The analyst explains that this internet cable, which apparently exceeds the capabilities of the telecommunications company Moov Mauritel, was rejected by the presidents Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, and Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz.
It was only accepted by the current President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani.
The employees of Moov Mauritel are against this new project.
They expressed so on a strike saying that the company has taken an interest in Internet cable and has invested in it, despite their demands against this decision.
In their 10 days-long protests, the employees asked for better work conditions.
The cable will reach the El Guerguerat breach, located in the extreme southwest of Moroccan territory, located about 50 kilometers from the Mauritanian city of Nouadhibou, explains the local press, noting that the completion of the project was initially planned for the next year.
The dates were slightly changed without giving reasons or explanations. So far, Nouakchott has not made an official statement about this project.
Moov Mauritel is the Mauritanian incumbent operator that was born of a split in 1999 from the Post and Telecommunication Office.
In 2000, Mauritel SA created Mauritel Mobiles, holding it at 100% and obtaining the second operating license for a GSM-type mobile telephone network.
Following an international call for tenders launched by the Mauritanian government on April 12, 2001, Maroc Telecom acquired 54% of the capital of Mauritel SA.
Subsequently, the Maroc Telecom group created the Mauritanian Communication Company (CMC) in January 2002 bringing it the shares it held in Mauritel SA.
In June 2002, Maroc Telecom sold 20% of CMC to Mauritanian investors. Later on, during the 2003 financial year, CMC sold 3% of Mauritel SA in Morocco for 17 million dirhams in accordance with commitments made during its privatization in 2001.
The ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) cable construction contract was signed in June 2010 by Moov Mauritel. It is a 17,000-kilometer submarine cable that connects France and South Africa and runs along the coasts of several African countries and belongs to a consortium of 20 operators, led by France Telecom.
At the end of December 2021, Moov Mauritel had a fixed base of 57,000 lines, with no increase compared to 2020, and is deploying an ADSL (Asymmetric digital subscriber line) and FTTH (Fiber to the home) network, enabling it to sell very high-speed internet to its customers.
At the same time, Mauritel had about 19,000 Internet subscribers connected mainly via the ADSL network (94% of the park?).
The Mauritanian market had, as of September 2021, 4.7 million mobile customers, with a penetration rate of 99.10%.
Mauritel has at least 3 million customers as of December 31, 2021, which means that it witnessed an annual increase of 13% despite aggressive competition from the Mauritano-Tunisian Telecommunications Company (Mattel) and the operator Chinguitel, in addition to regulatory restrictions related to customer identification.
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