French MVNO Coriolis Telecom is interested in acquiring the business telecoms assets of Bouygues Telecom, which could ease some regulatory pressure on Orange’s bid for its smaller rival, according to Les Echos.

Orange last week confirmed preliminary talks to buy Bouygues Telecom for €10 billion. If successful, the deal would create a giant with more than 50 per cent of the mobile market. The acquisition would reduce the number of operators in the country from four to three and will face intense regulatory scrutiny.

Offloading unwanted assets to rivals could encourage competition authorities to take a more sympathetic view of the merger. Orange is a powerful player in its domestic business market so selling Bouygues Telecom’s assets in this area need not be painful.

Gaining the Bouygues assets would also be a boost for Coriolis. “We will have the critical mass to offer a real alternative to the future duopoly in the enterprise market,” Pierre Bontemps, Coriolis’s chief executive officer, was quoted as saying.

Coriolis will begin negotiations to acquire the assets this week.

The country’s two other operators – SFR-Numericable and Iliad – might also be interested in future asset disposals.

Orange deal
Separately, Orange chief executive Stephane Richard told a news conference he did not expect a long running negotiation over acquiring Bouygues Telecom but anticipated a conclusion within weeks.

“I will not engage Orange in a risky deal,” he added.

Richard said negotiations did not include Bouygues’ TF1 TV channel.

He expects the deal to be reviewed by France’s competition authorities rather than the European Commission, which is a preferable outcome from the operator’s point of view.

His comments were reported by Reuters.