PARIS — Plans to cut the number of players in the French telecoms industry were firmly back on the table on Tuesday after Orange revived talks with Bouygues Telecom to create a giant with more than half the country’s fixed-line and mobile markets.The negotiations accompany a softened line on sector consolidation from the government, which holds 25% of Orange, after it opposed a €10bn bid last year for Bouygues Telecom by tycoon Patrick Drahi’s Numericable-SFR.Competition concerns could allow Numericable-SFR and France’s fourth mobile operator, Iliad, to scoop up assets if disposals are required.A deal would mean a return to three mobile operators in France four years after the arrival of Iliad’s Free Mobile low-cost services led to a protracted price war.Former state monopoly Orange held talks with Iliad and Bouygues about a consolidation deal in 2014, encouraged by the government, but they collapsed over valuation and how to divide Bouygues Telecom between the two buyers.Orange sai...
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