Bouygues, which runs France’s third-largest mobile operator, is in line for a welcome cash boost following the agreed sale of energy firm Alstom – in which Bouygues holds a 29 per cent stake – to General Electric.

The decision by Alstom’s board to tie up with the US company could rake in as much as €2 billion for Bouygues, according to UBS analysts cited by Reuters.

Bouygues Telecom, which has seen M&A efforts flounder in France’s fiercely-competitive mobile market, recently announced its decision to axe some 1,500 jobs as part of plans to achieve annual cost savings of €300 million by 2016.

Despite its difficult financial position, Bouygues does not want to skimp on network investment. Shortly after announcing the job cuts, which represent around 15 per cent of its workforce, the operator declared it had launched LTE-Advanced networks in seven cities.

Bouygues’ ‘transformation plan’, announced at the time of the redundancies, is to continue to invest in 4G, be “very aggressively-priced” on fixed broadband, and strengthen customer support. Stores, too, are to be modernised.

The Alstom sale, speculates one “source close to [Bouygues]”, will not only help pay down debt but also end talk that Bouygues will need to sell its telecoms business quickly.

As part of the deal, the French government secured an option to buy 20 per cent of Alstom from Bouygues.

An unnamed London-based telecoms analyst, cited by Reuters, said cash from the Alstom sale could strengthen Bouygues’ hand when negotiating with rivals Orange and Iliad about any future potential tie-ups.

That said, at least according to Bouygues transformation plan, there’s not as much M&A urgency as before. The re-organisation, said the operator, would take shape from 2015 and allow the company to emerge as a “viable and credible player”.