Telecom Companies in Morocco Ban VoIP Calls

In the Kingdom of Morocco, citizens have taken to social media to voice their anger after telecommunication companies in the country banned Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). As a result of the ban, the people have called for a boycott of the telecommunication operators that enforced the banning of these features.

The people are requesting the Moroccan King to intervene and order the country’s telecommunication companies to lift this ban. Major companies like Meditel, Morocco or Marco Telecom & Inwi, implemented this ban at the start of the year. Famous VoIP calling platforms such as Facebook’s Messenger, WhatsApp, Skype, IMO, and Tango are just a few of the platforms that have been blocked for passing VoIP data over their 3G and 4G networks. Just a month later, the platforms were then blocked-off completely by the ADSL service.

However, the organization responsible for this ban – the Morocco’s Agence Nationale de Réglementation des Télécommunications – has a different story. According to them, the ban on free internet calls (VoIP) has been issued because it requires a license. Then again, the telecommunication agency’s action was regarded as a move that would increase earnings generated from international calls.

The ban has driven a large number of Moroccans to become a part of a cruel social media campaign, which aims to object against the agency’s decision to ban internet calls. In addition, there is also an online petition that demands the re-installation of the VoIP protocols. Because of the negative online feedback, the telecommunication companies have lost a lot of ‘likes’ and ‘followers’ on their social media pages, and within two days of the banning, a campaign labeled #OPEUnLike, was launched by Marouane Lamharzi on Facebook.

Lamharzi has developed a website that monitors in real-time the amount of people that are unsubscribing from the social media pages of the three telecom service providers involved. Although losing subscribers may seem unimportant in the internet world, in reality, it pertains a negative image that could potentially become very damaging to the companies. In addition, customers have also begun bombarding the companies’ social media pages with damaging reviews. The most frequently posted messages are calling for more people to unlike their pages. According to reports, customers are hoping that by significantly reducing the companies’ online support, the companies will realize the full extent of the issue.

Numerous people have made many sentimental requests to King Mohammed VI, asking him to re-establish the VoIP services that allow them to keep in-touch with family members and loved ones that live in the Moroccan Kingdom or abroad. Their images, notes, and letters continue to be published on the Facebook page called – Stop the VOIP Ban in Morocco.

Movements were also brought out over the internet; a note of objection to the president of Agence Nationale de Réglementation des Télécommunications has currently amassed more than ten thousand signatures. Whereas appeals, petitions and boycotts seem to be the sole solution to the ban of VoIP, Moroccans’ tolerance may become depleted over time, and we might see the public going crazy over the money driven corporations.

Source: Moroccan World News

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