Bouygues Telecom, Iliad (Free Group), and Orange have confirmed renewed negotiations with Altice France regarding the potential acquisition of SFR, following the rejection of their initial €17 billion joint bid in October 2025.(Totaltele)
The consortium, which has been conducting due diligence since early January 2026, has yet to reach a formal agreement. The initial offer envisaged Bouygues acquiring approximately 43% of SFR’s assets, Iliad 30%, and Orange 27%. The deal excluded certain Altice assets, including stakes in Intelcia, UltraEdge, XP Fibre, and Altice Technical Services, as well as operations in French overseas departments and regions.
The transaction is intended to strengthen investment in superfast networks, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, while consolidating control over strategic telecom infrastructure and maintaining a competitive ecosystem for consumers. The consortium proposed to allocate the B2B business primarily to Bouygues and Iliad, with the B2C segment shared across all three operators. Other infrastructure and spectrum assets would be jointly managed, with Bouygues taking responsibility for SFR’s mobile network in less densely populated areas.
The new negotiations indicate that the consortium may increase its bid to meet Altice owner Patrick Drahi’s valuation expectations, reportedly around €20 billion, though exact figures have not been confirmed.
If completed, the acquisition would significantly reshape the French telecom market, reducing the number of major mobile operators from four to three. While operators have long argued that the current four-player market leads to inefficiencies in infrastructure investment, the deal is expected to face rigorous regulatory scrutiny to ensure competition is preserved.
Bouygues, Iliad, and Orange have stressed that no final legal or financial terms have been agreed upon. Any transaction would be subject to due diligence, employee consultations, and regulatory approvals before completion.
Orange is a global telecommunications operator and generated €40.3 billion in revenue in 2024, serving 300 million customers worldwide. The Iliad Group operates Free in France, iliad in Italy, and Play in Poland, and generating €10.0 billion in revenue in 2024, with a total subscriber base of 51 million across its markets. Bouygues Telecom is a major French telecom operator with a strong presence in both mobile and fixed broadband services.