France's Competition Authority has acknowledged receiving a complaint from Orange seeking to block the mobile network sharing agreement struck by SFR and Bouygues Telecom in early February, following a report in Les Echos newspaper. The two companies have agreed to share their 2G, 3G and 4G infrastructure, covering 57 percent of the population. Orange is seeking a suspension pending a deeper ruling to prevent its rivals from proceeding until the Competition Authority and telecom regulator Arcep have their word. Arcep said it would publish a market analysis related to the network sharing agreement. The Competition Authority is expected to impose conditions on the deal at the end of the year.
Orange argues that the agreement is anticompetitive because it covers 80% of the territory. As it divides France into large areas where each operator will manage the networks on behalf of its rival, it would make the integration irreversible by making the operators too dependent on each other. Orange also fears that Bouygues and SFR go further than announced and they choose to share their spectrum, notably the 800MHz frequencies that can cover large areas with LTE. The agreement also would see around 7,000 base stations decommissioned, but SFR and Bouygues could be asked to cede them to Free instead. If such is the case, Orange wants there to be an open process to be able to buy them on the same terms. Orange would not comment on the matter. Bouygues Telecom said it had been informed of the move, which was to be expected.
