Morocco’s biggest telecoms company Maroc Telecom posted a 22% drop in first-half net profit on Tuesday, mainly because of voluntary redundancy costs and lower sales in its domestic market.

Shares of Maroc - which is Vivendi's most lucrative affiliate outside France - fell 3.6% on the news, hitting their lowest level in at least three years.

"The unpleasant surprise for retail investors was the massive provision for the layoffs," one Casablanca-based trader said.

Compared to its level a year earlier, Maroc Telecom's share price fell about 26%.

The provision for the redundancy programme launched in June came in at $88.4 million, while net profit fell to 3.13 billion dirhams.

So far, 800 employees have volunteered to leave, but Maroc Telecom said the number may rise by the end of 2012.

Speaking to reporters in Casablanca later on Tuesday, Chairman Abdeslam Ahizoune voiced confidence the plan would appeal to more employees.

"We have some very generous offers for those who wish to leave," he said.

He did not however give details on the targets of the plan.

The company's bottom line also lost 102 million dirhams to a new solidarity tax imposed by the government at the start of 2012, he added.

Though sales revenue in Morocco fell 5.3%, overall sales revenue dipped by only 1%, thanks largely to a 21% gain from other African operations. Maroc Telecom has subsidiaries in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali and Mauritania.

The company maintained its target for an operating margin, excluding provision costs for redundancies, of "about 38% by the end of 2012". On comparable basis, the operating margin stood at 39.3% during the first half, but falls to 34% with provisions for redundancies included.

Revenue growth has slowed mostly because of increased competition in Morocco, its main source of income. Sales there fell to 11.9 billion dirhams after turnover from fixed-line phone services slid 11% and mobile turnover dropped 5.1% to 8.94 billion dirhams, despite increases in number of users for both segments.

However, Maroc Telecom has managed to keep its market share stable at 47.5% for mobile phone services and 44% for high-speed Internet.

The rise in international sales was led by a 34.5 percent rise in Gabon turnover and a near-22% rise in Mali.