Note 02 · SIM
A prepaid SIM is a subscription you pay for in advance. The steps below are a checklist of questions, not a script a shop must follow. Rules and starter packs change. Ask at the counter, and keep what you are given.
01
Shops in Morocco commonly ask for a passport or a national identity card before a prepaid SIM is activated. That is a registration step, not a formality you should skip. Look at what the seller types. Your name and document number should match the document in your hand. If a shop wants to register the line to someone else, stop. You want the subscription in the name of the person who will use it.
maroc-telecom cannot check a registration and does not collect identity documents. If something about the process is unclear, ask the operator whose brand is on the pack, not this website.
02
Moroccan mobiles are usually shown with a leading 0, often beginning 06 or 07. Inside the country that local form is what people dial. From abroad, drop the 0 and add the country code: +212. A number shown as 06 12 34 56 78 is +212 6 12 34 56 78. Write both forms on the receipt or in a note you control. Send the international form to anyone who will call you from outside Morocco.
03
Prepaid data is often sold as a pass: a volume of data, a validity window, and sometimes a limit on speed after a threshold. The window matters as much as the gigabytes. When the time ends, leftover data may expire even if you have not used it. Ask when the pass starts, whether it renews, and what happens to voice credit separately from data. Voice credit and a data pass are not always the same balance.
Short codes that check a balance differ by operator and change. Use the code printed on the pack or in the operator’s own app. We do not reprint those codes, because a wrong one wastes a message and can start a purchase you did not intend.
04
A physical SIM needs a slot of the right size, or a tray that accepts the card without force. An eSIM is a downloadable profile. Some operators offer eSIM on some plans, and some phones have only one kind of slot. Confirm both sides before you pay. After insertion, the phone should show a network name and be able to place a test call. A logo with no ability to call is not a finished setup.
If the phone was bought abroad, a missing radio band can look like a bad SIM. Swap the card into another unlocked phone if you can, as a way to separate “this subscription” from “this handset”. Lock status matters too: a phone locked to a foreign carrier may refuse a Moroccan SIM until it is unlocked by that carrier.
05
Photograph the pack, the receipt, and the number. Note the date and the shop. You do not need to send that record to maroc-telecom. It helps if you later ask the operator about a missing pass or a number you cannot remember. Do not post the photograph publicly. It can show a phone number and part of an identity document if both are in frame.
06
A local number is useful for people in Morocco and for services that expect a Moroccan mobile. People abroad need the +212 form, and some of their phones will still try to treat the number as local to their own country if you omit the plus. If you also keep your home SIM, a dual-SIM phone can hold both, with mobile data assigned to the one you choose. Roaming on the home SIM is a separate decision, covered in roaming.
Top-ups belong to the operator’s own channels. This site does not sell credit, vouchers, or starter packs. If a page or a message claims that maroc-telecom can recharge a line, it is not from us.
Next, it helps to know what the data will be spent on. Reading mobile data use puts rough weights on messages, voice, and video.
The first hour
Still at the desk
Call your own second phone, or ask the seller to call the new number from theirs while you watch it ring. A logo with no ring is an unfinished sale. If the phone was locked to another carrier, this is when you find out, while you can still ask for the card back.
On paper
06 12 34 56 78 and +212 6 12 34 56 78 are the same line. Write both on the receipt before you fold it. Send only the +212 form to people outside Morocco. A photo of the pack is useful. A photo that also shows a passport page is not something to keep in a shared album.
The pass
Ask the start time, the end time, and whether voice credit is a separate balance. A pass that “includes calls” may still meter them differently from data. If the seller cannot point at those two clocks on a receipt or a confirmation text, you do not yet know what you bought.
The name on the line
Read the name and number the seller typed. If they want to register the SIM to a colleague, a landlord, or “the shop”, refuse. You will be the person who has to recover the number later, and the operator will ask for the registered holder. This publication cannot undo that record.
Two SIMs in one phone is a setting, not a mood.
Set the data line on purpose. “Automatic” often prefers whichever radio looks stronger, including a roaming SIM you meant to keep quiet.
A dual-SIM phone can keep a home number for calls and put mobile data on a Moroccan prepaid SIM. The labels in the settings are easy to swap. Before you rely on the arrangement, turn mobile data off on the home line and place one app call. Then open the phone’s data counter and confirm the Moroccan line is the one that moved. If the home line moved, roaming may already be billing you. The decision is spelled out in roaming.
eSIM and plastic are both just the subscription’s identity. Some phones have one physical tray and one eSIM slot. Some Moroccan offers are plastic only, on the day you ask. Confirm both the phone and the pack before you pay. Downloading an eSIM profile needs a working internet path — café Wi-Fi is enough if you trust it for that one download, and a mistake means you may need the seller’s QR code again. Photograph the QR only if you can keep the photo private. It can activate a line.
A useful record is small: the shop name, the date, the number in both forms, the pass end date, and a photo of the receipt with the passport out of frame. Store it where you already keep travel papers. You do not send it to maroc-telecom. If a pass fails to appear, that note is what you show the operator whose brand is on the pack, together with the time of day.
Top-up belongs to that operator’s own shop, app, or voucher. A message that offers to recharge “through maroc-telecom” is not from this desk. The address and the three mailboxes are for the publication, listed on the contact page.
