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French telco Orange could pay $10.86 billion for rival operator
French state-controlled telecommunications group Orange signed a confidentiality agreement with rival conglomerate Bouygues to acquire the latter’s telecom business for a total of 10 billion euros ($10.86 billion) in cash and shares, French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche reported.
The report says that the two companies will begin acquisitions talks in mid-January.
According to the newspaper, Bouygues would receive 2 billion euros in cash and a 15% stake in Orange, which is valued at approximately 8 billion euros.
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Orange was eying potential acquisitions in the European market with Dutch telecom services provider KPN and Belgium telco Proximus Group among the targeted firms. At that time, sources familiar with the matter said that the French company was also analyzing a potential deal with compatriot Bouygues Telecom or Telecom Italia.
Bouygues Telecom ended the third quarter of 2015 with a total of 4.6 million LTE subscribers, representing 46% of the operator’s mobile base, excluding machine-to-machine connections, compared with 26% at the end of Q3 2014.
In a previous presentation during the company’s capital markets day, Bouygues Telecom said its 4G LTE network currently covers 72% of the French population.
Bouygues Telecom launched 4G LTE services in 2013 through spectrum in the 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands.
Orange initially launched its 4G LTE offering in November 2012. The service is currently offered through the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands. Rival operators Free and SFR also offers LTE services.
Qatar adds 564,000 new mobile subscribers in first nine months of 2015
The mobile telephony market in Qatar added a total of 564,000 new mobile subscriptions in the first nine months of 2015, according to BMI Research’s “Qatar Telecommunications Report.”
The Qatari mobile telephony market ended September 2015 with a total of 4.69 million subscribers, according to the report.
“The growth has been propelled by infrastructure and economic development projects, the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup and the arrival of migrant families,” BMI report authors said.
Mobile operators in Qatar include Ooredoo and Vodafone.
