Bouygues Telecom, Free-iliad Group and Orange joint statement following the rejection of their acquisition bid by Altice France
Press release
Paris, 15 October 2025
Bouygues Telecom, Free-iliad Group and Orange joint statement following the rejection of their acquisition bid by Altice France
Bouygues Telecom, Free-iliad Group and Orange have taken note of the Altice group’s decision to reject their joint non-binding offer submitted on the evening of 14 October to acquire a large part of Altice France’s telecoms activities.
The three operators remain convinced of the relevance of their bid and of the value of the project they are pursuing for the market and all its stakeholders, customers, employees, creditors and shareholders. Indeed, such a project would both preserve a competitive ecosystem to the benefit of consumers and support continued investment in national telecom infrastructure.
Bouygues Telecom, Free-iliad Group and Orange will therefore maintain their offer and wish to engage in constructive dialogue with the Altice group and its shareholders in order to assess how this project could progress going forward.
About Orange
Orange is one of the leading telecommunications operators worldwide, with a revenue of €40.3 billion in 2024 and 124,600 employees as of June 30, 2025, including 68,700 in France. The Group served 300 million customers as of June 30, 2025, including 262 million mobile customers and 22 million fixed broadband customers. These figures account for the deconsolidation of certain activities in Spain related to the creation of the joint venture MASORANGE. The Group operates in 26 countries (including non-consolidated countries).
Orange is also a global leader in telecommunications services for multinational enterprises under the Orange Business brand.
Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA).
For more information (web and mobile): www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com and the Orange News app or to follow us on X: @presseorange.
Orange and all other products or services mentioned are trademarks owned by Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited.
Press contacts
Eric Fohlen-Weill, Orange – eric.fohlen-weill@orange.com – +33 (0)6 81 07 81 02
Tom Wright, Orange – tom.wright@orange.com – +33 (0)6 78 91 35 11
About the Free-iliad Group
Created in the early 1990s, the iliad Group is the inventor of the world’s first triple-play box and is now a major European telecoms player, standing out for its innovative, straightforward and attractive offerings. The Group is the parent of Free in France, iliad in Italy and Play in Poland, has over 18,000 employees serving 51 million subscribers, and generated €10.0 billion in revenues in 2024. In France, the Group is an integrated Fixed and Mobile Ultra-Fast Broadband operator and had 23.1 million subscribers at end-June 2025. In Italy, where it launched its business in 2018 under the iliad brand, it is the country’s fourth-largest mobile operator and at end-June 2025 had over 12.5 million subscribers. In Poland, the Group is an integrated convergent operator, and at end-June 2025 had 15.5 million subscribers. In 2024, the iliad Group became Europe’s fifth-largest operator by number of retail Mobile subscribers (excluding M2M) and remained the fifth-largest Fixed Broadband operator.
Press contact
Isabelle Audap, Free-iliad Group – presse@iliad.fr – +33 (0)6 33 47 09 57
About Bouygues Telecom
Bouygues Telecom, a subsidiary of the Bouygues group, is a French all-round operator of digital communications France. Founded in 1994, Bouygues Telecom is committed to providing its B2B, B2C and public administration customers with high-quality, innovative and secure fixed and mobile communications as well as superfast internet by constantly improving its network and user experience. 27.1 million mobile customers and 5.3 million fixed customers put their trust in Bouygues Telecom, the leading operator for WiFi and fixed internet connections, according to nperf in 2024 and ranked No. 2 for mobile according to Arcep in 2023. Its 4G network now covers 99% of the French population, and its 5G network over 18,000 municipalities and over 84% of the French population. Bouygues Telecom Entreprises supports nearly 100,000 customers, of which 70% of the CAC 40, in adopting new collaborative uses, migrating to the cloud and transforming their digital infrastructure. Bouygues Telecom aims to reduce its scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 29.4% and its scope 3 emissions by 17.5% by 2027, which are targets that have been endorsed by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). #WeAreMadeToBeTogether
To follow Bouygues Telecom news: www.corporate.bouyguestelecom.fr, on X: @ByTel_Corporate
Press contacts:
Maylis Carçabal: mca@bouygues.com – +33 (0)6 63 59 87 05
Anthony Colombani: ANCOLOMB@bouyguestelecom.fr – +33 (0)7 62 46 26 65
Stéphanie Brun : sbrun@bouyguestelecom.fr – +33 (0)6 47 47 15 76
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