As reported in late October, Silicon Valley’s dominance has been dealt a rare blow: Apple has been ordered to pay nearly €39 million in damages to three of France’s largest telecoms companies for abusive contract practices. In its 10 October ruling, the Paris Commercial Court found the Big Tech giant guilty of imposing unfair clauses on its French partners, with the compensation owed to Bouygues Telecom, Free and SFR supplemented by a separate €8 million fine.
This move can be seen as part of France’s broader effort to reassert digital economic sovereignty – a trend mirrored in Brussels, where regulators’ fight against Big Tech faces rising headwinds. Beyond this external confrontation, the aforementioned French telcos interestingly find themselves at the centre of potential merger talks that could reshape and bolster the competitiveness of the country’s highly-strategic telecoms industry.
Emerging as a key battleground for Europe’s twin ambitions to rein in Silicon Valley and build EU champions in high-value industries, France will need strong, coordinated backing from both national and EU regulators to launch a convincing challenge to America’s innovation leadership.
Apple has wasted no time in hitting back against the Parisian court's ruling, declaring on 28 October that “we contest this ruling, which concerns a case dating back more than ten years, and we are appealing.” Adding insult to injury, Apple must make immediate payment of the penalties – €16.1 million to Bouygues Telecom, €15.1 million to Free and €7.7 million to SFR – which it will only recover if the ruling is overturned.
The decision is rooted in an investigation launched in 2013 by the French competition and consumer authority, the DGCCRF. The inquiry examined contracts signed between Apple and the four French operators – SFR, Bouygues, Free, and Orange. Only Orange has been denied compensation, the court noting that the operator had “set” the conditions for the iPhone’s distribution in 2007 by signing a contract with Apple and failed to subsequently contest them.
According to the court, Apple imposed a series of “unfavourable clauses” that the operators were unable to negotiate, requiring them to commit to fixed iPhone sales volumes and resale prices. The judges also noted “imbalances” between Apple’s obligations and those imposed on its partners, with the company notably enjoying the right to oversee the use of its products and trademarks in advertising, as well as to make cost-free use of the telcos’ patents.
Furthermore, the decision also cites iPhone promotional campaigns entirely financed by the four telcos, who were each paying between five and ten million euros annually under contract – an arrangement that the court evocatively described as “a true subjugation” of the operators.
In recent weeks, the same “Big Four” French telcos have again found themselves in the media spotlight over an even more consequential development for the industry’s competitiveness and resilience. As a central part of his wider plan to restructure Altice’s debt, founder and chairman Patrick Drahi has placed telecom subsidiary SFR on the market – a bold decision that sent shockwaves through the sector and quickly sparked the interest of France’s three rival operators.
After weeks of speculation, Orange, Free and Bouygues submitted a €17 billion joint offer for SFR in mid-October, with their proposal outing a three-way carve-up that would leave Bouygues with 43%, Free with 30% and Orange with 27% of the company’s assets. Well under SFR's €21 billion valuation, billionaire entrepreneur Patrick Drahi rejected the bid on arrival – a move widely seen by analysts as a calculated first step in what promises to be a drawn-out negotiation.
Beyond seeking a higher price, Drahi has also expressed his wish to accelerate the timetable for the potential merger, aiming to close the deal by early 2027. Leading the discussions, Drahi can count on the support of Altice’s creditors, who recently acquired 45% of the group’s shares in exchange for debt relief, while Drahi retains the remaining 55%, a position that reinforces his leverage as talks continue.
The three potential buyers have signalled their willingness for “dialogue” but have yet to raise their offer, while Drahi – known for his sharp negotiation skills – is naturally holding out for a higher price. While Orange CEO Laurent Martinez’s qualification of the offer as “attractive” is dubious given SFR’s valuable assets and robust customer base, his subsequent claim that the deal represents “a French solution to a strategic issue” carries greater weight.
Indeed, SFR’s sale would enable Drahi to significantly advance Altice’s restructuring while driving long-overdue consolidation in a sector that needs stronger revenues to fund investment in network innovation and resilience vital to France’s digital future. Given its implications for consumer prices, the SFR sale would face scrutiny from French regulators before likely heading to Brussels. Early signals, however, suggest that the European Commission may look favourably on such consolidation, reflecting a shift in how Europe views its digital competitiveness.
On 29 October, just one day after more than 20 of Europe’s largest telecom operators urged Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to relax merger rules to spur investment and counter U.S. and Asian rivals, a senior EU antitrust official clarified that EU merger rules do not prevent telcos from pursuing acquisition-driven growth. This stance aligns with the Commission’s evolving competitiveness agenda. After years of blocking four-to-three mergers over pricing concerns, regulators now appear more open to consolidation – especially with the SFR bid structured as a three-way division rather than a single-firm takeover that might distort competition.
Moreover, openness to consolidation must go hand in hand with firmness toward Big Tech. As Brussels redefines its digital market rules, it must ensure that Europe’s telecoms can scale and innovate without allowing foreign tech giants to weaken or bypass the very safeguards protecting European consumers and industry.
France’s challenge to Apple has become more than a legal case – it is a test of Europe’s ability to turn regulation into renewal. The next step is not only to discipline foreign giants, but to empower domestic ones. Moving forward, Europe must show that true digital sovereignty lies in the courage not just to constrain, but also to build an innovation-driven future of its own design.