Free set to acquire major part of SFR in French telecoms shake-up
June 8, 2026 12.03 Europe/London By Julian Clover


The Iliad Group has taken a major step towards acquiring part of rival SFR, in a deal that would significantly reshape the French telecommunications market and strengthen Free’s position as the country’s leading challenger operator.

Under a memorandum of understanding announced with Altice France, alongside Bouygues Telecom and Orange, Iliad’s Free would acquire more than eight million additional subscribers and a portfolio of valuable mobile spectrum assets. The proposal remains subject to employee consultations and regulatory approval.

The transaction would see Free take control of SFR’s low-cost RED brand, which serves around six million customers, alongside 1.6 million SFR consumer subscribers and approximately 400,000 small business customers. Following completion, Free would have close to 31 million subscribers in France.

In addition to the customer base, Iliad would acquire 50 MHz of spectrum across several frequency bands, strengthening its network capacity and supporting future growth in mobile data consumption.

The agreement forms part of a wider break-up of SFR, once France’s second-largest telecoms operator. While details of the division between the three operators have not been fully disclosed, the deal would further consolidate the French market around Orange, Bouygues Telecom and Free.

Iliad said the acquisition would generate around €2 billion in additional annual revenue and approximately €900 million in additional operating cash flow, including more than €500 million in synergies.

The operator has already secured €6.5 billion in financing for the transaction. The assets being acquired by Iliad are valued at €6.2 billion as part of a wider consortium deal valuing Altice France’s assets at €20.35 billion.

The move comes as European telecoms operators seek greater scale to support investment in fibre, 5G, cloud services, data centres and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Iliad recently announced plans to invest €4 billion in next-generation data centres and sovereign cloud services and is part of the AION consortium bidding to build a European AI Gigafactory in France.

Chief executive Thomas Reynaud said the transaction would strengthen Free’s ability to invest while maintaining its role as a disruptive force in the market.

“This transaction is good news for Free, but also for the French telecommunications market,” he said. “In a sector that must invest ever more in networks, cybersecurity, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, strong players are essential.”

If approved, the deal would make Iliad the third-largest telecoms operator in the European Union by subscriber numbers, further expanding a group that already operates in France, Italy and Poland.