Sebastien Soriano, president of France’s regulatory authority Arcep, told Le Monde that consolidation in the country’s telecom sector could be up for discussion, stating that market conditions have changed and “the regulator’s door is opening.” He explained that this was a change from the stance he had taken since April 2016, when he had started giving out negative signals on consolidation to compel market players to focus on network deployment and investment.
The comments come as Arcep’s annual report shows that French operators invested EUR 9.6 billion in 2017. Nearly half was spent by Orange, said Soriano. The overall spend was described as a significant proportion of telecom revenues, enabling France to advance its mobile and fibre coverage, which the regulator had taken as a mission to improve. While more open to market consolidation, Soriano warned that operators should strive towards a “value-creating project for the country, not just for shareholders.”
