French telecom trio Orange, Free and Bouygues to acquire SFR

On 6‑7 June 2026 the consortium of Orange, Bouygues Telecom and Free‑Iliad signed a protocol of agreement with Altice France to purchase SFR for an enterprise value of €20.35 billion, potentially rising to about €21 billion via an earn‑out of up to €650 million.

Bouygues will finance roughly 42 % of the deal and receive the largest share of assets – the full SFR Business unit, about 5.9 million retail customers, the Prixtel MVNO and the mobile network in sparsely populated zones – representing about 52 % of the transferred revenue. Free‑Iliad, contributing about 31 % of the price, will take over RED by SFR with six million low‑cost subscribers and roughly two million additional customers. Orange, the smallest financier at roughly 27 %, will acquire around 4.9 million retail customers and obtain additional spectrum (about 47 MHz, bringing its total to 221 MHz).

The agreement includes price‑adjustment mechanisms, a break‑up penalty ranging from €100 million to €2 billion, and a guarantee of employment for all roughly 8 000 SFR staff until early 2029. The transaction now awaits antitrust clearance from French and EU regulators, with a projected closing in the second half of 2027.