“That things have changed. That the flowers have faded. Than the time before. It was the time before”… The time before the arrival of Free on the mobile telephony market in 2012. The sector will return to a three-operator model with the takeover of SFR, for which “exclusive negotiations” with Free, Orange and Bouygues Telecom were announced this Friday.
– Why move to three operators?
The move to three operators has been favored for several years by French players. “They see a four-way market as a very competitive market,” Marc Bourreau, an economist specializing in telecoms and professor at the Télécom Paris engineering school, explains to AFP.
After significant growth in the number of new SIM cards, the overall number of mobile subscribers has been increasing for several years at a much slower level. “Operators no longer really have the capacity to attract new consumers, it’s a saturated market, so competition is quite strong,” continues Marc Bourreau.
In this context, all operators declared themselves in favor of such a development. “There is no doubt that consolidation in France will create value for all stakeholders, including us,” said Orange’s financial director, Laurent Martinez, in October.
– What are the consequences on prices?
If operators hope to benefit from greater profits in a three-way market, the question of maintaining low prices agitates observers and public actors. The prices of mobile plans and fixed subscriptions in France are among the most attractive in Europe, according to a study by the European Union in 2022, particularly on high-end plans.
After the agreement was made official on Friday, the Ministry of the Economy assured that it would remain “extremely vigilant”, particularly regarding “the impact on subscription prices for consumers”. “There will probably be a small increase in prices,” notes Stéphane Villard, partner at Deloitte and specialist in the telecoms sector. “But the three-way structure still makes it possible to maintain sufficient competitive intensity so that the price increase is not massive,” he maintains.
In their press release on Friday, the operators wanted to be reassuring, indicating that they wanted to “preserve a competitive ecosystem for the benefit of consumers”.
– What would become of SFR customers?
According to the agreement unveiled on Friday, Bouygues Telecom should inherit the “B2B” segment, offers dedicated to professionals, while the general public activity and infrastructures would be shared between the three buyers. But the three operators have not detailed at this stage the process of transferring SFR subscribers (mobile and box). More information could be revealed if a final agreement is reached by the end of the exclusive negotiation period, which ends on May 15.
However, Bouygues Telecom, Free (Iliad) and Orange had already outlined a framework for transferring subscribers when submitting their first takeover offer in October. They then indicated that if the takeover was accepted, the assets of SFR (Altice France) would initially be transferred within a joint company, before being integrated into Bouygues Telecom, Orange and Free.
The buyout offer currently being negotiated, if accepted, will also have to obtain the approval of the competent competition authorities. The fate of SFR’s 8,000 employees remains uncertain. Several unions have already demanded guarantees on employment in the sector.
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