French incumbent Orange has filed a complaint about a previously announced network sharing deal between mobile rivals SFR and Bouygues.
The French competition authority has confirmed it received the complaint, according to media reports.
In February,…
French incumbent Orange has filed a complaint about a previously announced network sharing deal between mobile rivals SFR and Bouygues.
The French competition authority has confirmed it received the complaint, according to media reports.
In February, SFR and Bouygues had agreed to deploy a shared mobile network that will be available to 57% of the country’s population. The agreement is expected to result in total annual savings of €300m.
The CEO of Orange, Stephane Richard, had previously described network sharing between SFR and Bouygues as “a form of consolidation”, adding that the size of the French market did not justify four operators.
Richard was said to favour a merger between SFR and Bouygues to ease the price war in the market, despite the possibility of the incumbent losing its leading position.
However, Vivendi recently agreed to sell SFR to Altice and its cable unit Numericable. The converged entity is expected to compete directly with Orange’s operations.
The incumbent filed the complaint with the competition authority, considering that the agreement between Bouygues and SFR is anticompetitive because it covers a large perimeter, according to reports. It wants the deal to be suspended until SFR is actually sold so the impact on the French telecoms landscape can be better assessed.