The Arab Spring of 2011 was responsible for overthrowing long established dictators that ruled their people with an iron fist. Since that time, only a couple of the countries involved in the uprisings are doing relatively well, with Morocco being one of them. But the monarchy and government that is in place is coming under scrutiny for a recent ruling the Moroccan telecommunications regulation agency, ANRT, instituted by blocking Skype (News - Alert), WhatsApp and Viber, which were the most widely used voice over IP (VoIP) platforms in the country.
In a critical article on wamda.com regarding the decision the ANRT made, Aline Mayard, who is the French editor for the site and owns a residence for international startups in Morocco, details the negative impact it will have in the country.
Whether it is Morocco or any other country, the ability to communicate freely is a conducive environment for the creation of new ideas and enterprises. You don’t have to look very far to see the horrendous impact totalitarian regimes have had on the people, economy and the country as a whole: North Korea comes to mind.
According to Mayard, “This decision seems stupid, irrational, and illegitimate.” And as a person living in the country working in the tech sector, her points are more than valid.
The ANRT defended itself in a press release, stating the reason was, “The shortfall in terms of revenue for the national telecommunication market resulting from the use of free Telephone over IP services.”
This is not out of the realm of possibilities, because operators around the world have lost billions of dollars just from SMS revenue. And when you consider a country like Morocco doesn’t have the resources as other oil producing nations in the region, any loss in revenue can affect the country’s GDP.
The new regulation doesn’t completely eliminate the services, because anyone with a telecommunications license can provide Internet telephony.
Mayard points out, “The ANRT doesn’t seem to care that there’s a huge difference between Telephone over IP and Voice over IP.” But at the end of the day, VoIP and Internet telephony avoid the tolls charged by ordinary telephone service, which may be the overall reason for the decision: money.
As to the impact it will have on residents, Mayard quotes several professionals who are vehemently opposed to the decision. Moroccan Taher Alami, the founder of Web agency AbWeb, said “The ban on Skype, adding to the absence of a free PayPal (News - Alert), makes it even more difficult for the hundreds of thousands of Moroccan freelancers [whose] clients are abroad.”
For the larger economic picture, it will give pause to foreign companies that want to establish themselves in Morocco. If their potential customer base is not able to communicate freely using technology that is available almost everywhere else in the world, they might look at different countries in North or Sub-Saharan Africa.
Complicating the communications process which is now relied on by individual consumers and businesses alike will only slow the recovery of the Moroccan economy, and make it more susceptible to the unrest that is taking place on the East and West of it borders.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson