Orange has questioned the merger of rival SFR and French cable operator Numericable, according to an interview given by CEO Stephane Richard with the Financial Times.

Richard said Orange had concerns both about regulatory and tax issues following last month’s €17 billion winning bid for SFR by Altice, Numericable’s owner.

Bouygues, the owner of third operator Bouygues Telecom, was the losing bidder.

“We are going to advocate an equality of treatment between cable and copper and fibre. Another example is what will happen with the tax regime – [there is] not the same VAT rate for copper and fibre as cable – and access to bundled TV content,” said Richard.

His comments reflect Orange’s concern to be on a level playing field in what will be a quadplay fight with the Numericable-SFR combination.

Orange has also complained about the proposed network-sharing deal between SFR and rival Bouygues Telecom, it was reported earlier this month.

Richard does not see the Numericable-SFR deal as the end of consolidation in the country’s mobile market. He predicted Bouygues would be forced into some kind of move after the failure of its SFR bid, which it pursued intensely.

And consolidation among the country’s mobile operators has political support within the government in the shape of industry minister Arnaud Montebourg, who this week urged Bouygues to look for link-ups with other operators.

Richard also said the mood in Europe was now more positive regarding mergers in the telecoms sector.

The intense period of competition in the French market has driven down prices, he said to a level where consolidation became necessary.

Now that frenetic period is coming to an end, partly because the SFR-Numericable combination is saddled with debt, while Bouygues’ future is uncertain and newcomer Free has a network to build.

“Bouygues is facing a real challenge. In my view, they have a standalone plan, but that will probably lead them to restructuring the company massively with quite a social impact,” he said.

This situation will lead Bouygues to look at options such as network sharing or a merger, he said. “I think they are still assessing the options, but they need to make a decision quickly.”