Free, like Orange and Bouygues Telecom, believes that European doctrine currently prevents a move to three operators in France. Acquiring SFR, even partially, is impossible today.
At a time when SFR, heavily in debt, is being hit by a massive outflow of subscribers, particularly on mobile, a perennial question arises: what if an operator tried to buy it back at least partially? In an interview given to Capital (September monthly) on the sidelines of the presentation of its half-year results, Xavier Niel confided the impossibility in the current state of affairs of initiating such a consolidation:
“I think that the competition authorities, both European and French, would not allow it. The European doctrine is four operators per country in a functional market. Take Italy: we are even five there now! In France, it is four. The doctrine is four. So no, today we cannot buy SFR, even in part. To grow in France, others have the obligation to make acquisitions: this is not our case. We still have 10% organic growth per year.”he explained.
The same story from Bouygues Telecom, sounded out during the summer of 2023 in the same way as Free by Patrick Drahi’s group with a view to a partial takeover, Bouygues Telecom showed itself unequivocally last November, a marriage with SFR is indeed impossible, a consolidation in France as well. “Consolidation is everyone’s dream. The important little point is that it is not possible because of the harshness of the Competition Authority, it is not possible to go from 4 to 3, it is not realistic”said Olivier Roussat, CEO of the Bouygues group. For several months, Orange and other European telecom giants have been calling for a change in regulation and more consolidation. They are pushing for a new approach to merger control. « The bar for consolidation in national markets is too high ” estimates the historic operator which this year managed to merge its activities in Spain with Masmovil.
This article was reprinted on the Univers FreeBox website
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