The French telcos started talks in January
French telecom operator Orange decided to put an end to merger talks with smaller rival Bouygues Telecom, according to Orange.
“After in-depth discussions, the board of directors of Orange has concluded that an agreement regarding a possible consolidation with Bouygues Telecom has not been reached. The decision has therefore been taken to end the discussions with Bouygues,” the company said in a statement.
The French telco said it will pursue deployment of its strategic plan, launched in 2015, and focused on investment in high-speed broadband networks and providing an improved customer experience. In the statement, Orange also confirmed all of its financial objectives.
Orange reached said it reached 8 million LTE subscribers at the end of 2015, posting 1.4 million net additions during the last quarter of the year. The telco ended 2015 with 28.42 million mobile connections. Orange’s LTE network reached 80% of the French population by the end of the quarter, using spectrum in the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands.
Bouygues Telecom’s LTE network currently covers approximately 72% of the French population, having launched LTE services in 2013 using spectrum in the 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands.
Turkcell launches LTE-A services
In other EMEA news, Turkish mobile operator Turkcell launched LTE-Advanced services in 81 city centers across the country.
The telco last August obtained LTE spectrum in multiple band in an auction carried out by the Turkish government. Last month, the telco tested its LTE-A network in Samsun, achieving claimed download speeds of 390 megabits per second, with claimed speeds of around the 350 Mbps mark in four other cities. Upload speeds came in at between 40 Mbps and 50 Mbps.
Turkcell ended 2015 with 35.6 million subscribers.
