Orange CEO: SFR carve-up still on track for late 2027 close

Orange, Bouygues and Iliad still expect to sign their €20.4 billion ($22.7 billion) carve-up of SFR by the end of 2026 and close it by the end of 2027, Orange CEO Christel Heydemann confirmed on the operator's third-quarter earnings call.

"The timeline is unchanged," she said, while noting the deal remains contingent on clearing the required legal procedures. The three operators launched their joint bid in June, after SFR's parent Altice France put the operator up for sale to shrink its heavy debt load.

The transaction depends on two simultaneous procedures. The first — agreement from employee representatives — is proving lopsided. The three buyers have secured their staffs' consent. Altice France's employees have not, and their representatives have taken the deal to court. Heydemann said negotiations continue, but nothing so far suggests the friction will delay anything.

What could still slow the deal?

The longer road is antitrust. Heydemann expects the competition probe to wrap up toward the end of 2027, and French regulator Arcep has said it will conclude around then at the earliest.

France's April presidential election poses no threat either, in her view. "SFR is managing critical infrastructure for France and for millions of customers," she said, adding that no French political party has attacked the proposed transaction. The antitrust authority, she noted, sits independent of the government.

Where does satellite fit in Orange's plans?

The call also covered Orange's satellite ambitions. The operator recently signaled interest in acquiring MSS spectrum through a planned joint bid with Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica and Vodafone, with the auction expected in the second half of next year.

"We see MSS spectrum really as a complement to our terrestrial network," Heydemann said. "The key element will be the customer experience and the handover from terrestrial to satellite and back and forth between our networks, which really requires mastering both sides of the experience." That also means working handsets into the equation. She promised more detail closer to the bidding process.

Orange isn't waiting to test the water. Last year it launched a limited direct-to-device (D2D) satellite messaging service with Skylo. Device support is thin: only Google's Pixel 9 and 10 models work with it.

"It was for us a test in the market to test the appetite, to position ourselves on this segment," Heydemann said. The verdict: customers do want the technology, and Orange plans to widen the offer, particularly on device support. The company is also testing Starlink's service in Spain and preparing a pilot in Romania, the latter dependent on satellite availability and slated to start next year.

How did the quarter look?

The numbers behind the confidence: group revenue rose 3.6% to €12.2 billion ($13.6 billion) in Q3, while EBITDAaL climbed 4.6% to €4.1 billion ($4.6 billion). Orange credited "strong commercial performance" across all its geographies and raised its 2026 EBITDAaL growth target to over 4.5%, up from over 4%.

The B2B side remains the sore spot. Orange Business revenues fell 2.5% to €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion), dragged down by the macroeconomic environment despite 12.2% growth at Orange Cyberdefense. CFO Laurent Martinez said the unit continues its "transformation," which includes accelerating the commercial launch of AI and trusted-cloud products aimed at the defense and security sectors.

With the SFR signature penciled in for year-end 2026 and the antitrust review running until late 2027, Heydemann's timeline now rests largely on Altice's employee talks and Arcep's calendar.