SFR sale: how customers in France could be impacted
Customers of the telecommunications giant will likely transfer to one of its three competitors
The sale of the telecommunications giant will impact around 25 million SFR subscribers
Tobias Arhelger/Shutterstock
Around 25 million customers in France could be affected if French communications giant SFR goes ahead with a planned sale to its three main competitors.
The company is poised to be taken over by competitors Bouygues Telecom, Iliad (Free), and Orange, in a proposed offer of €20.35 billion announced on Friday April 17.
That offer came after a previous bid of €17 billion, made in October 2025, was rejected by SFR parent company Altice France. Operators then entered into negotiations in early January 2026.
The proposed deal is now being considered by all parties exclusively until May 15.
If the sale goes ahead, as appears likely, the new operators would share SFR’s assets, including its individual subscribers and business customers.
Specifically, the split would be:
Bouygues Telecom: 42%
Free: 31%
Orange: 27%
This would apply to at least 25 million SFR subscribers. Business customers will be taken over by Bouygues, as will customers that use the SFR mobile network in less densely populated areas.
If the sale goes ahead, current SFR subscribers will transfer to one of the three other operators, but at this stage it remains unknown which subscribers will go to which other operator. Although it looks unlikely that individual subscribers will be able to choose the new operator to which they will be transferred.
In the event of the takeover going ahead, SFR subscribers also need to be vigilant of any changes to their contracts or price increases, although the new operators have promised that the sale will not disrupt services for subscribers.
The sale plans come amid major restructuring at Altice and SFR, as the company seeks to reduce debt, and, in its own words, “strengthen investments” in the areas of “very high-speed broadband networks [and] cybersecurity”.
SFR is the oldest brand in the French telecom market, and was the first operator in France to launch 3G, then 4G, and 5G. Today, it covers 99.9% of the population with 4G and 86% with 5G.
