Orange has opened lines of communication with competition authorities as it prepares for the possibility of a joint bid for rival operator SFR, CEO Christel Heydemann said on Thursday.
The potential transaction involves a consortium composed of Orange, Bouygues and Iliad, which currently holds exclusive negotiations with SFR owner Altice France. Those exclusive talks are scheduled to run through May 15, according to the companies involved.
The consortium offer values SFR at an enterprise value of 20.35 billion euros ($24 billion). While the discussions are continuing, Heydemann emphasized that no binding agreement has been signed by the parties.
"We started to discuss with authorities to get them ready, because we also know that this antitrust process takes time, and we want to make sure we can help them get up to speed quickly," Heydemann said during a webcast.
Under the terms being discussed, the proposed transaction would reduce the number of mobile network operators in France from four to three. Heydemann noted that Orange is examining possible behavioral remedies to address competition concerns. She referenced a comparable recent regulatory process in Britain, where regulators gave conditional approval to the Vodafone-Three merger in 2024, as an example of remedies being part of an approval pathway.
Regulatory filings will not be submitted on behalf of the consortium as a single entity. Instead, each company participating in the bid must file separately with competition watchdogs, meaning multiple parallel reviews would be required by the relevant authorities.
At this stage, the parties remain in exclusive negotiations with Altice France, and there has been no formal, binding pact executed among the bidders. Heydemann framed the regulatory discussions as preparatory steps intended to shorten the timeline once formal filings are made.
Clear summary
Orange and its partners Bouygues and Iliad are in exclusive talks with Altice France to acquire SFR for an enterprise value of 20.35 billion euros. Orange has begun preliminary discussions with antitrust authorities to accelerate any future review process; each bidder will need to file individually and no binding agreement has been signed.