Acquisition of SFR: the Autorité lifts commitments made by Altice but maintains certain injunctions
In a decision issued today, the Autorité de la concurrence will not renew the commitments made by Altice upon acquiring SFR in 2014 but uphelds certain injunctions ordered by the Autorité in 2017.
On 30 October 2014, the Autorité gave clearance for the exclusive acquisition of SFR by Numéricable (Altice). Multiple commitments were made for a period of five years. These commitments have now expired, but could have been renewed once if justified by the market conditions.
Having established a competitive assessment, the Autorité has, in a decision issued today, considered that market changes since 2014 did not justify renewing the commitments subscribed by Altice for five additional years.
However, the injunctions with penalty payments ordered by the Autorité in 2017 for the agreement on co-deployment of the fibre optic network executed with Bouygues Telecom (“Faber” agreement) are upheld.