Vivendi

Abderrahim Koumaa, Director of Network Planning and Control, Networks & Systems, Maroc Telecom Group (ASDR 2009)

Maroc Telecom contributes to reducing the digital divide

« For several years, Maroc Telecom has been engaged in efforts to reduce the digital divide in order to fight exclusion, encourage access and sharing of knowledge, while strengthening connectivity with the rest of the world in the Kingdom and Africa.
As a global operator, our responsibility efforts contribute to the sustainable development of populations in Morocco and in other African countries where the Group is present. Working towards universal service, Maroc Telecom has taken charge of 80% of the telecoms access program PACTE, which will cover all the out-of-coverage areas in the Kingdom by the end of 2011. Some 7,400 localities will have mobile telephony coverage and so have easier access to basic services like healthcare and weather forecasts, which are essential for farmers. Maroc Telecom is democratizing the use of the Internet for the school and university communities. The Group installs connections in schools and offers PC packs and connections to students at highly advantageous rates. Via its participation in national programs for promoting the NICT (New Information and Communication Technologies), Maroc Telecom has provided some 4,500 engineering students with laptop PCs and 3G Internet subscriptions, and has provided some 80,000 3G connections to teachers.
With the development of new uses of – and growing needs for – broadband Internet, we have greatly increased our capacities for international links, with the laying of an Atlas Offshore submarine cable which now links Morocco and Europe and the launch of deployment of a fi ber-optic link between El Aaiún (Morocco) and Nouakchott (Mauritania). These investments contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of local companies and facilitate domestic uses. »