Markets

Six Markets,
One Relationship

North Africa is not one market, and treating it as one is the most common mistake in regional expansion planning. Egypt's carrier-billing infrastructure has had over a decade to mature. Libya's is a state-owned duopoly with almost no published payments data. Mauritania barely appears in industry indices at all. What the six do share is the structural condition that makes a distribution layer necessary: high mobile penetration, low card penetration, and almost no global consumer app with a local billing relationship. Below is what each market actually looks like.

How to read this

The DCB maturity column uses the Evina and Telecoming DCB Index 2023 for the Middle East and Africa, which scores markets out of 5 on carrier-billing conditions and fraud protection. It is the only public, comparable, country-level scoring of these markets we are aware of. Two of the six, Libya and Mauritania, are not scored in it at all, which is itself the most useful fact about them: they are the least-documented and least-served markets in the region, and correspondingly the clearest first-mover opportunities. Nothing on this page describes a Clementine relationship. These are public market conditions, sourced below.

Egypt

The largest market in the region by population and the most developed for direct carrier billing. Four established operators, Vodafone Egypt, Orange Egypt, Etisalat Misr and Telecom Egypt (WE), serve a young, heavily mobile-first base, and a mature mobile-wallet layer sits alongside carrier billing. Egypt scores 3.5 out of 5 on the DCB Index. Credit card penetration is roughly 10%, so a card-on-file subscription model excludes the large majority of potential users by design. Egyptian operators also demonstrably integrate with global consumer apps: Telecom Egypt runs a live partnership with Truecaller. That one is a caller-ID integration rather than a billing one, but it shows the commercial and technical path exists.

▸Operators: Vodafone Egypt, Orange Egypt, Etisalat Misr, Telecom Egypt (WE)
▸Payments reality: cash-dominant, roughly 10% card penetration, established mobile-wallet layer
▸DCB maturity: 3.5 out of 5, the most mature of the six
▸Practical note: reaching the full mobile base independently means four separate operator integrations

Morocco

The highest-scoring market in the MEA DCB Index at 3.6 out of 5, ahead of Egypt, and a Francophone-leaning market with visible telecom bundling activity. Three operators share the market: Maroc Telecom, Orange Morocco and inwi. Morocco has the clearest recent precedent of a global subscription app choosing carrier billing here on purpose. Orange Morocco enabled carrier billing for Spotify Premium in 2023. That is a company with every resource to build an alternative choosing to plug into an existing operator relationship instead, which makes it a current signal rather than a legacy workaround.

▸Operators: Maroc Telecom, Orange Morocco, inwi
▸Payments reality: growing digital payments, with French and Arabic both required
▸DCB maturity: 3.6 out of 5, highest in the MEA ranking
▸Precedent: Orange Morocco and Spotify Premium carrier billing (2023)

Algeria

A large, young, heavily prepaid market served by three operators: Mobilis, Djezzy and Ooredoo Algeria. Algeria entered the DCB Index for the first time in its 2023 edition at 2.9 out of 5, which is the useful signal. Conditions are now good enough to be scored, but the market is materially less built out than Morocco or Egypt. Currency convertibility and a cash-dominant retail economy make cross-border card billing awkward in ways that are easy to underestimate from outside the region. Carrier billing routes around most of that.

▸Operators: Mobilis, Djezzy, Ooredoo Algeria
▸Payments reality: cash-dominant, limited card usage, convertibility constraints
▸DCB maturity: 2.9 out of 5, newly indexed
▸Practical note: French and Arabic both required, and almost no global app has a local billing relationship

Tunisia

A smaller market than its neighbours but a well-connected and Francophone-leaning one, served by Tunisie Telecom, Orange Tunisie and Ooredoo Tunisia. Tunisia scores 2.9 out of 5 on the DCB Index, down from 3.3 in the previous edition, which is a reminder that these conditions move in both directions and that market readiness needs re-checking rather than assuming. Orange's operator-billing API covers Tunisia alongside Morocco, which makes it one of the more accessible entry points in the Maghreb for a partner already working with Orange.

▸Operators: Tunisie Telecom, Orange Tunisie, Ooredoo Tunisia
▸Payments reality: Francophone-leaning, growing digital payments, card penetration still low
▸DCB maturity: 2.9 out of 5, down from 3.3
▸Practical note: Orange operator billing covers both Tunisia and Morocco

Libya

A state-owned duopoly and one of the least-documented markets in the region. Libyana is the leading operator with close to 5 million mobile subscribers and roughly 59% market share as of March 2024. Almadar Aljadid holds the remaining 41% or so with over 3.4 million subscribers. Together they account for around 8.5 million SIMs. Libya does not appear in the DCB Index, which makes the one public precedent here disproportionately valuable. Altibbi, a MENA telehealth platform, runs a live partnership with Libyana: a real consumer health app, in a real commercial relationship, in the market a sceptic would assume has no working payment infrastructure at all. If it works in Libya, the "payments don't work here" objection does not survive anywhere else on this list.

▸Operators: Libyana (roughly 59% share) and Almadar Aljadid (roughly 41%), both state-owned
▸Scale: around 8.5 million SIMs across the duopoly
▸DCB maturity: not scored in the DCB Index
▸Precedent: Altibbi and Libyana telehealth partnership

Mauritania

The smallest and earliest-stage of the six, and the clearest white space. Three operators serve the market: Mauritel, the incumbent, majority-owned by Maroc Telecom with roughly 52% share; Chinguitel; and Mattel, owned by Tunisie Telecom. The market had roughly 5.1 million mobile customers as of September 2023, a penetration rate above 100%, against a subscriber base that is almost entirely prepaid. What makes Mauritania interesting despite its size is that the mobile-money layer is already there. Mauritel Money, Mattel Money and Chinguitel Money all operate. The rails exist. What is missing is anyone using them to distribute global consumer apps.

▸Operators: Mauritel (roughly 52%, Maroc Telecom), Chinguitel, Mattel (Tunisie Telecom)
▸Scale: roughly 5.1 million mobile customers, penetration above 100%, almost entirely prepaid
▸Payments reality: mobile-money wallets operating across all three operators
▸DCB maturity: not scored in the DCB Index, so genuine first-mover territory

The six markets side by side

Market	Main operators	Payments reality	DCB maturity	Stage
Egypt	Vodafone Egypt, Orange Egypt, Etisalat Misr, Telecom Egypt (WE)	Cash-dominant, roughly 10% card penetration, mature wallet layer	3.5 / 5	Most developed
Morocco	Maroc Telecom, Orange Morocco, inwi	Growing digital payments, FR + AR	3.6 / 5	Most developed
Algeria	Mobilis, Djezzy, Ooredoo Algeria	Cash-dominant, convertibility constraints	2.9 / 5	Emerging
Tunisia	Tunisie Telecom, Orange Tunisie, Ooredoo Tunisia	Francophone-leaning, card penetration low	2.9 / 5 (down from 3.3)	Emerging
Libya	Libyana (roughly 59%), Almadar Aljadid (roughly 41%)	State-owned duopoly, little public payments data	Not scored	Early, one live precedent
Mauritania	Mauritel (roughly 52%), Chinguitel, Mattel	Mobile-money wallets across all three operators	Not scored	Earliest, white space

DCB maturity scores from the Evina & Telecoming DCB Index 2023 (Middle East & Africa), scored out of 5. Libya and Mauritania are not scored in that index. Operator shares and subscriber figures as of the dates given in the sections above. Sources listed at the foot of this page.

Common questions

Why treat all six markets as one relationship rather than six?+

Because the alternative is six commercial negotiations and, in Egypt alone, four separate operator integrations. The work of building carrier and mobile-money relationships is largely the same work repeated per market, which is exactly the kind of cost that only makes sense to pay once and reuse across a catalogue.

Which market should a publisher start with?+

Egypt and Morocco are the most developed on carrier billing and the usual first answers. But the right starting point depends on where a given app already has organic usage. Demand that already exists is worth more than infrastructure maturity in the abstract.

Are Libya and Mauritania actually worth the effort?+

They are the smallest and least-documented markets, and neither is scored in the DCB Index. That is the argument both ways: little existing competition, and correspondingly little existing infrastructure. Libya has one public precedent, Altibbi and Libyana. Mauritania has an operating mobile-money layer and, as far as public sources show, nobody using it for global app distribution.

Does Clementine have operator relationships in these markets today?+

No. Clementine is a new company at the pre-launch stage with no signed operator, publisher or distributor relationships. Everything on this page is public market data, cited below.

Which of these markets matters to you?

One agreement covers all six, whether you're bringing an app in or offering one to your customers.

Bring your app to North Africa Become a distribution partner

Sources

Figures on this page are drawn from the public sources below. Companies and deals referenced are cited as third-party industry precedent — none is a Clementine client, partner or completed deal.

Six Markets, One Relationship