French Wireless Battle Could Have Deeper Implications

Last week we hinted that nationalism was rearing its ugly head in the Vodafone/Vivendi battle for Cegetel. Well it seems that we weren't too far off the mark. The Economist believes that France is the least developed western European wireless market due to a serious lack of competition. If Vodafone seizes control of SFR via Cegetel then it could pose a serious threat to France Telecom's hottest property, Orange. With 70 billion euro in debt, the last thing FT needs is a battle for mobile subscribers.