French competition watchdog investigates Numericable-SFR’s fibre investment

France’s competition regulator has launched a third enquiry in a year into Numericable-SFR, this time looking into the conditions in which Numericable is executing its commitments relating to its co-investment agreement with Bouygues Telecom to deploy fibre networks.

The agreement, which predates Numericable’s acquisition of SFR, relates to a joint plan to deploy fibre in high-populated areas including Paris, Lyon and Bordeaux, where infrastructure is difficult to install.

Bouygues has alleged that SFR, post its acquisition by Numericable, has failed to respect the spirit of the accord, under which SFR was to install the fibre, with Bouygues putting up part of the finance.

Numericable committed to respect the agreement when it took over SFR. However, Bouygues has alleged that  the group has slowed down the pace of work.