Green light comes five months after the Bouygues Telecom announced that it was in exclusive negotiations to take control of the MVNO for €950 million
France’s Competition Authority (Autorité de la concurrence) has cleared Bouygues Telecom’s proposed takeover of MVNO La Poste Telecom without conditions. In February Bouygues Telecom announced its intention to acquire 100% of the capital of La Poste Telecom, the leading virtual operator on the French market (currently 51% owned by the La Poste group and 49% by SFR) and to conclude an exclusive distribution partnership involving the La Poste group, La Banque Postale and La Poste Telecom.
The telco said at the time the deal would enable it to strengthen its base by approximately 2.3 million mobile customers. It would also enable Bouygues Telecom to rely on La Poste’s distribution network, which benefits from a strong brand recognized for its values of “trust and proximity”. La Poste Telecom has 400 employees and a turnover of approximately €300 million in 2023.
The deal would also allow La Poste Telecom to continue developing its mobile business and build a new fixed-line proposition for its customers based on the values shared by both partners. La Poste Telecom operates in mainland France, Reunion Island, Mayotte, Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana.
Green light
On 12 July 2024, Bouygues Telecom notified the Authority of its plan to acquire sole control of La Poste Telecom, currently controlled by the La Poste group and SFR. In the mobile telephony retail market, the Authority found that the transaction would bring about a limited change in the structure of competition, due to La Poste Telecom’s limited market share. It also considered the competition from Bouygues Telecom’s main rival MNOs, Orange, SFR and Free.
The Authority also noted that Bouygues Telecom would have an extensive, dense distribution network throughout mainland France for the marketing of La Poste Telecom’s offers, thanks in particular to the La Poste group’s post offices/bank branches, which will continue to distribute La Poste Telecom’s mobile telephony offers.
In its decision, the Authority considered, however, that the importance of this distribution network should be put into perspective, given the growing share of distance selling (online and telesales) in the mobile telephony market, which now accounts for two-thirds of mobile telephony sales. Consumers will continue to have access to alternatives via this sales channel, which covers the whole of mainland France, including rural areas where Bouygues Telecom’s competitors do not have physical branches.
The Authority also considered that the transaction would not enable Bouygues Telecom, as an MNO, to refuse access or downgrade the conditions of access in terms of communication time in the upstream wholesale market for access and call origination on mobile telephone networks to MVNOs competing with La Poste Telecom. The Authority noted that existing regulatory obligations, competition from other MNOs in the upstream market and the absence of any incentive for Bouygues Telecom to implement such a strategy meant that the risk of such a strategy could be ruled out.
Next steps
According to Capital.fr, in addition to the agreement of the Competition Authority, this acquisition still requires the approval of SFR, committed to providing the La Poste Telecom network until the end of 2026. SFR has a right of pre-emption on the shares for sale as a priority, but also a right of approval of the purchaser.