ONA's Wana wins Morocco's third mobile licence

RABAT, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Wana, the telecoms arm of Morocco's biggest conglomerate, ONA (ONA.CS: Quote, Profile, Research), said on Wednesday it had won the country's third wireless phone network, part of a government drive to liberalise the telecoms sector and cut prices.

Wana, which currently offers limited-range mobile, fixed-line and Internet services, would join Maroc Telecom (IAM.CS: Quote, Profile, Research) and Meditel, which operate the two existing mobile networks in the North African kingdom of more than 30 million people.

Maroc Telecom is 54 percent held by Vivendi (VIV.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), Europe's largest entertainment group, while Meditel is a joint venture between Spain's Telefonica (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) and Portugal Telecom (PTC.LS: Quote, Profile, Research).

The government telecommunications regulator, the Telecoms National Regulation Agency (ANRT), picked Wana for the third licence because it pledged "significant investment", Wana said in a statement.

Wana has said it would detail its investment strategy early this year after ANRT decided on the third licence.

The government expects the telecoms industry as a proportion of the country's gross domestic product to grow from about 7 percent currently to 10 percent next year on the back of more liberalisation and greater competition.

An ANRT source confirmed that Wana was the winner but gave no further details, including the number of other bidders. (Reporting by Lamine Ghanmi, editing by Will Waterman)