320 Mediated Publics
modified form—was finally passed in 2004. For further discussion of pub-
lic perceptions of new technologies in Morocco, see Bahíyyih Maroon,
“Mobile Sociality in Morocco,” in The Cell Phone Reader: Essays in Social
Transformation, edited by A. P. Kavoori and N. Arceneaux (New York: Peter
Lang Publishing, 2006). As the focus of this article is on practical uses, I
have limited my discussion of public opinion.
14.Internaut” is the term commonly applied in Morocco to people who use “
the Internet. It sometimes also refers to people who simply use comput-
ers. The government and media use this term just as average citizens do.
In newspapers, including al-Ittihad al-Ishtiraki, Le Matin du Sahara et du
Maghreb and L’Opinion, as well as magazines, such as Tel Quel and Jeune
Afrique, one finds frequent references to Internauts. The title of a 2002 gov-
ernment-sponsored conference on promoting Internet use was “10 Million
Internauts in 2010: How?” I follow this tendency by employing the term
“Internaut” throughout this essay.
15.e Act clarifies the procedures for privatization of the sector by carefully Th
detailing the requirements for licensing telecommunications operators.
Under the Act, operators seeking to offer services in Morocco must partici-
pate in fair market practices and transparent operating procedures. Further,
operators are obligated to maintain the technological standards in existence.
16.ll financial figures in this text are in USD unless otherwise indicated. A
- GSM is short for Global System for Mobile Communication.
18.nternational Telecommunication Union, “Effective Regulation Case Study: I
Morocco,” 2001, http://www.itu.int/itudoc/gs/promo/bdt/cast_reg/79125.
pdf (accessed August 2004).
19.hen the second line license was held back in 2001, critics pointed to the W
role of the chief officer of the government agency SEPTI, Nassr Hajji, who
also sits on the board of Maroc Telecom. Since Maroc Telecom’s primary
stock holder, Vivendi Universal, was reeling from falling stock prices at that
time, many suggested that the withdrawal of the second tender was in part
due to its potential inability to weather the entrance of a direct competitor.
By the time the tender was launched again, the telecommunications market
had suffered dramatic losses globally, and the possibility of a successful sale
was essentially closed out. - While ANRT officials are prohibited from owning interest in the telecomm
corporations, members of Morocco’s SEPTI are active shareholders in the