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Rabat – The number of internet users reached 93% in the third quarter of 2021, according to the latest report of the Moroccan National Agency for Telecommunications Regulation (ANRT).
The number of people with internet access reached nearly 34 million, with a penetration rate of 93%, showing an increase of more than 17% from last year, the report notes.
While mobile internet remains dominant in the country with 31 million subscribers, fiber optic connections saw the highest increase of nearly 82% to 330,185 users.
Mobile internet saw an annual rise of 18% in terms of the number of subscribers.
ADSL connections stabilized at 1,6 million users at the end of September 2021, with more than 43% of them having access to speeds of 10Mbps or higher.
The report also showed 2,46 million Moroccans are subscribed to a fixed telephone service, marking a rise of 6.94% compared to last year.
In terms of traffic, more than 14 billion minutes of mobile telephony were registered during the third semester, equating to a low 0.65% increase compared to the last trimester of 2020.
SMS traffic increased by 6.89% to reach 762 million messages, while the average monthly mobile usage decreased by 6.68% to 93 minutes, compared to 100 minutes last year.
Morocco’s top level domain (.ma) saw nearly 103,000 new websites established by the end of September 2021, showing another increase of more than 14%.
The report notes that many people attributed the rise in their usage of internet and digital services to the COVID-19 confinement. Distance learning and education, as well as e-commerce also saw a significant rise since the start of the confinement measures.
Improving the accessibility and quality of broadband internet in the country has previously been cited as a priority for Morocco’s government, especially during confinement and with the rise of online businesses in the country.
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Morocco ranked 84th in a “Digital Quality of Life” index released by cybersecurity firm Surfshark earlier this year, dropping 14 ranks from last year.
