French conglomerate Bouygues has approached Free about selling its telecom unit to the smaller rival, after failing in its bid to acquire SFR, Le Parisien reports. According to the paper's sources, Bouygues is seeking at least EUR 8 billion, while Free's parent company Iliad is unwilling to pay more than EUR 5 billion. The talks reportedly started following a preliminary agreement for Bouygues to sell its network to Free if it was successful inits bid for SFR. The new discussions centre on the sale of not only the network and frequency rights, but also Bouygues Telecom's 11.2 million mobile customers and 1.9 million fixed customers. The paper's sources said Bouygues had also approached Telefonica about its possible interest, in an effort to put pressure on Free. Bouygues declined to comment, while Free said it's continuing its strategy as an independent operator.
