Morocco Savvy

Casablanca’s best known ”cyber” closes its doors as internet cafés struggle to survive ever more affordable broadband rates.

At one time, Giganet on Casablanca’s Boulevard Mohamed Zerktouni was considered the largest internet café in Africa. Today, its door is closed, L’Economiste reports. Forever, it seems.

With around a hundred computers and open 24 hours a day, Giganet was a well-known spot for tourists eager to get in touch with the folk back home. It also served as a popular hangout for Casablanca’s middle-class youth, who would spend hours there, serving the net and playing computer games.

The landmark “cyber”, as internet cafés are known in Morocco, seems to have closed forever. L’Economiste writes that a note on the door says “Closed for renovation”, Giganet’s neighbor tells the paper that the place is empty all day. The phone line has been cut, the company’s website has vanished.

Giganet seems to be a victim of a trend in Morocco. With “always on” broadband internet access now available for 200 dirham (US$ 23) per month, the middle classes are getting connected at home. That’s over 700 hours of internet access for the price of 20 hours at Giganet.

Apart from tourists, middle-class youth are the cybers’ main customers. Poorer people can not afford 10 dirham for an hour online, or even the 5 dirham that internet cafés outside the city centers charge.

Although there are still 11,500 “cybers” in Morocco, their number is falling rapidly. Only 60 percent of internet cafés renewed their license last year, Morocco’s telecoms regulator ANRT tells L’Economiste.

By contrast, the number of broadband subscriptions in Morocco grew from 250,000 in 2005 to almost 400,000 by the end of last year.

• It’s getting less and less easy to find an internet café in Morocco