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The move comes after a previous takeover bid was rejected in October 2025
According to reports, Bouygues Telecom, Iliad, Orange have confirmed that they are once again at the negotiating table with Altice France for the purchase of rival operator SFR.
In a statement, the trio said that they had been conducting due diligence since early January, but no formal deal has yet been reached.
“The legal and financial terms of the transaction have not yet been agreed upon,” said the companies in a joint statement.
Bouygues Telecom, Iliad, and Orange first made a joint bid of €17 billion to acquire SFR in October last year. Bouygues was expected to acquire about 43% of SFR’s assets, Iliad 30%, and Orange 27%.
The deal covered the majority of SFR’s assets, but notably excludes stakes in Intelcia, UltraEdge, XP Fibre, and Altice Technical Services. Altice’s businesses in French overseas departments and regions are also excluded.
However, the approach was quickly rejected by SFR’s billionaire owner Patrick Drahi, who said the company was seeking an offer over €20 billion.
Today’s announcement suggests that the consortium is willing to increase their bid significantly, but by exactly how much is unclear. A report from BFM, published prior to the official statement from the consortium, suggested that the companies may meet Drahi’s wishes of around €20 billion.
If agreed, the deal would spark considerable regulatory scrutiny for reducing the number of mobile operators in France from four to three. While operators have long argued that four players in the market are too many, leading to inefficient investment in national infrastructure, regulators have traditionally been wary of reducing market competition.
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