Orange chief executive Stephane Richard will turn his attention once again to consolidating France’s mobile market after the incumbent has sold its stake in U.K. telco EE to BT.
France’s mobile operators have seen their margins squeezed ever since fourth player Free entered the market in 2012, sparking a fierce price war. Conglomerate Altice upped the pressure even further last year when it acquired SFR and merged it with cableco Numericable.
"There’s a natural pressure towards consolidation in the sector," said Richard, at a press conference reported on by Reuters on Tuesday.
In May, Orange was reportedly in talks to acquire smaller rival Bouygues Telecom, but the parties were thought to be unable to reach an agreement on price.
In November, Xavier Niel, founder of Free parent Iliad, said that his company was not planning to make any acquisitions, and insisted that consolidation in France would be impossible without Iliad’s involvement.
However, it appears that consolidation could soon be back on the agenda at Orange.
In December, the French incumbent entered talks to sell its stake in EE to BT in a deal worth £12.5 billion. According to Reuters, Richard said on Tuesday that Orange is close to finalising the sale of its EE stake to BT.
Should the sale go ahead, Orange will receive a 4% stake in BT and an unspecified amount of cash, which could potentially be used to help fund an acquisition in France.
