US-based drone specialist Ondas sets up shop in Morocco
Commercial drone solutions provider Ondas has entered into a strategic partnership with Moroccan company Maghrebnet for the creation of a drone production facility in Morocco.
By signing the memorandum of understanding with Maghrebnet, a Moroccan provider specialising in information technology, security, networking, telecommunications, power and renewable energy, the leading provider of private industrial wireless networks and commercial drone and automated data solutions has marked its presence in North Africa; as well as underlined its ambition to access the rest of the promising market in Africa.
According to a statement from the US company, the partnership with Maghrebnet allows Ondas to develop in the Moroccan market and more broadly in North Africa, offering advanced drone infrastructure for cities, industrial and strategic facilities.
In this regard, Ondas CEO Eric Brock stated that "Morocco, with its technological leadership, constitutes a strategic market in full growth, especially in the aerospace sector", mentioning that "together with Maghrebnet, Ondas' Optimus system will bring significant added value in aerial data collection for government and commercial applications".
For its part, Maghrebnet, the Moroccan company specialising in autonomous unmanned aircraft systems, sees this alliance as a strategic opportunity to expand its security-related services. This implies a strong growth of strategic technological investments in several infrastructure sectors in Morocco, in particular the aerospace and energy sectors.
Given Morocco's trend towards industrialisation, with a government clearly committed to national economic and industrial development, the head of Maghrebnet, El-Mekki Benamar, stressed the importance of such partnerships in the growth of innovative economic sectors.
The Maghrebnet representative pointed out in his statement to the press: "We see numerous applications for the Optimus Wave system in the governmental, industrial and commercial sectors, which can benefit from automated and transparent data collection and analysis, as well as other unmanned aerial services".
As part of this memorandum, Ondas and Maghrebnet agreed to jointly explore a multi-faceted commercial partnership. Maghrebnet will introduce Ondas' systems to potential customers in the region and will manage the manufacture and sale of Ondas' Optimus Drone-In a-Box automated systems in Morocco and Senegal.
Based on an efficient strategy that aims for prosperous growth in the future, the two companies Ondas and Maghrebnet will strive for cost-effective manufacturing of docking stations and the creation of a common research and development centre in Morocco.
According to the report published by Mordor Intelligence on "Middle East and Africa drone market analysis", the Middle East and Africa drone market size is estimated at $3.34bn in 2023, and is expected to reach $4.94bn by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 8.14% during the forecast period of 2023-2028.