The French economy minister Arnaud Montebourg has said the government will work actively on encouraging consolidation from four to three in the mobile sector.
Montebourg, who was previously industry minister, had strongly supported a merger of SFR and…
The French economy minister Arnaud Montebourg has said the government will work actively on encouraging consolidation from four to three in the mobile sector.
Montebourg, who was previously industry minister, had strongly supported a merger of SFR and Bouygues Telecom, arguing it would help bring prices down, encourage investments and limit the risk of job cuts.
But last week, SFR’s parent Vivendi picked Altice’s offer, which will combine the mobile player with cableco Numericable and keep the number of mobile operators at four.
During a parliamentary committee hearing yesterday, Montebourg said: “There are two small operators that remain [Bouygues Tel and Free Mobile], and we can wonder what their future will be if they don’t merge, which doesn’t seem to be on the agenda right now.”
He added: “Our policy of re-consolidating the sector, of bringing it down to three, remains all the more relevant. We will work on that actively.”
The minister met both Altice’s Patrick Drahi and Bouygues CEO Martin Bouygues earlier this week. He also said he received a letter from Drahi in which the billionaire said he was committed to preserve jobs and invest in high-speed broadband. In addition, Drahi offered to also list Altice in Paris, not just in Amsterdam.
Separately, European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia was quoted saying, on the sidelines of a conference, that the French competition authority, rather than the EC, would examine the SFR-Numericable deal.
One of the reasons Vivendi opted for the Altice/Numericable offer was because it presents the lowest competition risks.
Competition experts had agreed that a merger of SFR with its direct rival Bouygues Tel would have been subject to extensive scrutiny from antitrust authorities, therefore delaying closing.
