Bouygues Telecom said SFR will cease roaming on its 4G network by the end of 2018, while slamming the extension of a 2G/3G roaming contract between rivals Orange and Free.

In a statement, Bouygues Telecom stated its aim to expand its 4G network to between 98 per cent to 99 per cent of the population by the end of 2018.

Bouygues and SFR submitted their roll-out plans to Arcep, the French telecoms regulator, and Bouygues said they would continue to do so every six months.

The changes come after Arcep gave French operators a three week deadline to submit amendments to their existing network sharing and roaming deals.

The regulator considers network roaming to be of benefit but only transitional or limited in scale, with the side effect being that it removes a newcomer’s incentive to invest in their own infrastructure.

Free’s deal
Earlier in the week, rival Free Mobile said it will begin phasing out the use of Orange’s network for domestic roaming from January 2017 while its contract for 2G/3G roaming has been extended from 2018 to 2020.

Bouygues said the latter move is in “total contradication with the decision of the Competition Authority of March 2013 and will not allow a return to balanced competitive conditions”.

Arcep had previously proposed its own end date to Free Mobile’s roaming deal with Orange, suggesting that 3G should finish between end-2018 and end-2020, while 2G roaming should cease by the end of 2022.

The regulator said it “welcomes the reactivity of all four operators which signed the amendments within a very short timeframe” and will perform a detailed examination of the revised documents, after which it will decide if changes still need to be brought to existing agreements.