Five Thousand VoIP call-shops for Morocco.

In previous posts, The View from Fez has reported on the changing face of telecomunications in Morocco. Back in June we reported that there had been a strategic meeting for infrastructure projects in Morocco. At that meeting a plan was devised for "technical realisation" was defined. Now comes the news that. subsequent to the official meeting with the Moroccan Prime Minister, Driss Jettou and Hassan Bernoussi, Director of External Investment, the AMITELO company has commenced the rollout of the first phase of what will become the installation a staggering five thousand VoIP-Call Shops in Morocco over the next three years with a overall budget of EUR 125,000,000.

According to its website, the AMITELO Group (www.amitelo.ag), headquartered in Zurich, is an internationally operating, innovative technological company which is active in telecommunication's high-growth areas such as VoIP, Sky DSL, ADSL, Billing, Call Shops and Call Centres.

The company's focus is on providing internet telephony (VoIP) and other telecommunication technologies for use in various regions of Europe and Africa. Additional new global markets will be developed in the near future. The AMITELO Group is pursuing an offensive growth strategy in which organic and acquisitory growth are closely connected and contribute to the realization of set turnover and income goals.

The launch includes new Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) based services and the set-up of 5,000 new call shops in a time frame of three years, equipped with state-of-the-art VoIP-technology. The budget, approved by the government for this grant scheme for qualified persons is EUR 25,000 per call shop, resulting in a total amount of EUR 125,000,000 for the overall budget. The call shop equipment includes the technical environment, phones, computers and other hardware such as printers, as well as the software for the billing system and the furniture for the phone booths and the shop itself.

For this 3rd generation call shop-solution the Group member Median Telecom GmbH's VoIP-call shop-solution, currently deployed in Germany (by Median) and Spain (by Sunline Communications SL, another Group member), will be implemented. The set-up of the call shops of this type has been tailored to align with the "Mon Travail" scheme of the Moroccan Government by which qualifying individuals are able to access grant money to commence in self-employment. This is a new concept in Morocco, a country of 33.25 million inhabitants, of which 63.4% are in the 15-64 year age range. Morocco currently has some 3.5 million inhabitants using the Internet.

This franchise concept from AMITELO is a well-tried business model, which has proven suitable, to commence and develop successful self-employment. Regarding this, AMITELO expects a huge demand for its 3rd-Generation-Call Shop-Solution in Morocco. This project represents a direct synergy between Group members Median GmbH and Success Technology SA, deploying a 3rd-Generation call shop solution, particularly developed for Africa, in which both cultures and their differences are considered in the case of the design and deviations within the available infrastructure. The first call shop in Africa is already installed and is operational in Senegal for demonstration purposes. AMITELO is also planning the modernisation of existing call shops with the governments of certain partnering African countries. This is in accordance with Amitelo's focus on the emerging markets, some of which are not deregulated and some of which are preparing for deregulation regarding VoIP.

Due to the upcoming liberalization of the markets the competition will move into Africa. With each step in the technical direction of VoIP the former incumbents are designing their modernized services to be ready for the future. This means, they are providing a competitive offering, which increases the market entry barriers for new competitors.

Concepts like the 3rd generation-call Shops, completely based on VoIP-technology and which are offering, besides plain telephony and Internet access, additional services like e learning and e-government, are forward-looking and will remain against new competition in the market. E-government is an offer in the administrative authority field, providing forms to be downloaded and filled in online for diverse uses such as travel and relocation needs, application for sponsoring or government information.

AMITELO feels extremely positive after the successful implementation of the first series of call shops is complete, that further programs for modernization of the telecommunications infrastructure in Morocco can be realized in co-operation with the government. AMITELO is proceeding on the assumption that the positive resonance this common government project gains in the neighboring countries will be a signal for other projects to develop in the telecommunication sector in Africa. The management of AMITELO is traveling to Senegal at the end of September in order to negotiate similar new projects.

Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news