Bouygues Telecom believes the proposed break-up of SFR, valued at around €20 billion, can secure approval from France's competition watchdog, according to comments reported by the Financial Times.

The statement from Bouygues — SFR's smaller rival in the French mobile market — marks a significant intervention in the debate over the future of Altice France's telecom unit. Any dismantling of SFR would require clearance from the Autorité de la concurrence, and Bouygues's public position suggests at least one major market player sees a workable path through the regulatory process.

SFR, owned by debt-laden Altice France, has been at the centre of speculation about a potential split for months. The €20 billion figure attached to the break-up under discussion reflects the scale of the assets involved in France's second-largest telecom operator by revenue. Altice France has been wrestling with a heavy debt load inherited from years of aggressive acquisitions by its founder Patrick Drahi, and restructuring options for SFR have included separating its infrastructure, content and retail operations.

A break-up would redraw the map of the French telecom market, currently dominated by four mobile network operators: Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free (Iliad). Regulators have long scrutinised consolidation in this market. Competition authorities blocked a previous attempt at merger between SFR and Bouygues in 2014, requiring SFR's sale to Altice instead and extracting network-sharing and wholesale commitments from the parties.

Bouygues's willingness to speak publicly about the viability of a break-up signals that the operator, backed by its conglomerate parent Bouygues group, sees potential strategic upside in the scenario — whether through acquiring parts of SFR's assets or through reduced competitive pressure from a fragmented rival. The French state has also taken an active interest in the telecom sector's consolidation debate, with economy ministry officials repeatedly warning against market concentration that could raise prices for consumers.

The Autorité de la concurrence will examine any break-up plan on the basis of whether the resulting entities can compete effectively and whether the transaction harms consumers. The precedent from the 2014 SFR-Bouygues merger review shows the watchdog is prepared to impose structural remedies, including asset divestments and wholesale access obligations, as conditions for approval.

Altice France's creditors have been negotiating a restructuring of the group's debt, and the future of SFR sits at the heart of those talks. A break-up valued at €20 billion would represent one of the largest telecom restructurings in Europe in recent years, and its approval would set a precedent for how regulators treat the dismantling of integrated operators that combine fixed and mobile networks with media assets such as SFR's news channel BFM and its content division.

For now, no formal break-up plan has been filed with the watchdog, and Altice France has not confirmed the final structure of any split. The outcome of creditor negotiations and the French state's position on telecom consolidation will shape whether a formal proposal reaches the Autorité de la concurrence in the coming months, with Bouygues's public endorsement of the break-up's viability adding momentum to that timeline.