La Poste Mobile, the telephone operator born from the alliance between La Poste, which holds 51% of the capital, and SFR, which holds 49%, could soon be owned by Bouygues Telecom. While La Poste Mobile announced in January that it was entering into exclusive negotiations with Bouygues Telecom with a view to acquiring it, the competition authority gave the green light on Monday, August 19.
950 million operation
The Authority indicated in a press release After being informed on July 12 of the acquisition proposal submitted by Bouygues Telecom. While “The process is unlikely to harm competition.”Therefore, the designated authority decided to declare this. “No conditions.”
The operator can thus redeem all the shares in this branch of the public group for 950 million euros. This costly operation will allow him to benefit from ” A precise and dense distribution network across the entire metropolitan area, thanks in particular to the post offices/banking agencies of the La Poste Group. However, the Authority considers that this table should be put into perspective with the increasingly evolving trend. distance selling […] Which today represents two-thirds of mobile phone sales.
What could this acquisition change for customers?
If this happens, the acquisition could also bring Bouygues around 2.3 million Poste Mobile customers. It probably shouldn't be affected by the change of ownership. The competition authority said in a press release that “La Poste Group's post offices/banking agencies will continue to distribute La Poste Telecom's mobile offers.” Moreover, La Poste promised in its columns: Parisian Last January that “Nothing should change for subscribers.”whoever the buyer is. So the offers should remain the same no matter what. This new collaboration could also allow La Poste Mobile “Building a new consistent offer for its customers based on the common values of both partners: quality of service, proximity to customers and respect for employees.”Puig confirmed via press release.
Currently, the acquisition of La Poste Mobile by the telecom giant Bouygues is still in the proposal phase. The alliance can only be closed after SFR's approval. The subsidiary's second-largest shareholder has priority to buy back the remaining 51% of shares and can also reject Bouygues' offer.
