Maroc Telecom Group has elevated digital sovereignty to a “major strategic focus,” signalling a shift in the operator’s investment priorities toward sovereign cloud and data infrastructure as it deepens engagement with European and African counterparts on data governance and cybersecurity.
The group’s chairman and CEO, Mohamed Benchaaboun, held high-level discussions with Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s head of digital sovereignty, security and democracy, on the sidelines of Gitex Africa 2026 in Marrakech. Talks centred on securing critical digital infrastructure, data governance frameworks, cybersecurity, and the conditions for sovereign and sustainable technological development — framed explicitly as an area of converging EU-Africa interest.
Benchaaboun was direct in positioning the operator’s 73-million-customer, 11-market footprint as placing it at the centre of Africa’s data sovereignty challenge. “Securing this infrastructure, controlling the data that flows through it, and ensuring the resilience of our networks against threats of all kinds: this is what digital sovereignty means to us,” he said, adding that the EC meeting confirmed Europe and Africa have “a real capacity to build together solutions.”
Maroc Telecom — 53% owned by Abu Dhabi’s e& and 22% by the Moroccan government — closed 2025 with revenues of 36.68 billion dirhams ($3.94 billion) and a capex-to-revenue ratio of 25.6%, with similar investment intensity expected in 2026 as it rolls out 5G in Morocco. Beyond its networks, the operator currently has limited sovereign digital infrastructure: a Casablanca datacentre serving SMEs and a reported partnership in progress with Google Cloud for a renewable-powered regional data hub. Industry sources indicate the operator is preparing to shift more capital toward datacentre and sovereign cloud buildout in line with the Moroccan government’s digitisation objectives.
Editor’s Note: This is a substantive strategic signal from one of Africa’s largest telcos, and the EU-Africa sovereignty framing at Gitex Africa gives it political weight beyond a standard operator announcement. We covered the Google Cloud data hub partnership last year — this piece extends that thread considerably, with Maroc Telecom now articulating a full sovereignty doctrine. The e& ownership angle is worth flagging: Abu Dhabi’s flagship telco has a direct stake in how North Africa’s data infrastructure aligns with global cloud players versus homegrown alternatives.
