The owners of French operator Bouygues Telecom have invested EUR700 million in the company, which will be used in part to cover its 4G licence fees, Bloomberg reports.

Apparently conglomerate Bouygues, which is the largest shareholder in the venture, is putting in EUR678 million, with advertising company JC Decaux Holding putting up EUR22 million.

The investment also sees Bouygues’ stake in the operator passing the 90 percent mark, while contrastingly JC Decaux’s is now under 10 percent.

Bouygues’ results for the first three quarters of 2012 were impacted by increased competition in the French market, with challenges for its mobile unit coupled with a stronger performance for its fixed broadband unit.

The company has undertaken a EUR300 million restructure and cost saving plan, including a redundancy plan affecting more than 550 employees.

It also inked a deal to sell more than 2,000 masts late last year.