Orange, Iliad and Bouygues Telecom were linked with potentially acquiring parts of fellow French player SFR by the Financial Times (FT), the latest speculation to emerge questioning the future shape and ownership of the operator.

The newspaper reported the trio were exploring what it described as a carve-up of SFR, with the operators potentially dividing the assets between them and cutting the number of market players to three.

Its sources claimed such a move would likely be led by Iliad or Bouygues. It noted no decision on how the assets may be split had been reached and there was no certainty a deal would be struck.

Any deal would also be subject to regulatory approvals.

The report is the latest on the future ownership of SFR, which has been a regular topic in the business press in recent months.

In May, Bloomberg reported the operator’s parent company Altice France, which is controlled by billionaire Patrick Drahi, was considering offloading a majority stake. At that point the news publication indicated the business could be worth €30 billion including debt.

Earlier this year Altice France came to a deal to restructure its debt, a move deemed by the FT as making a sale more likely once complete. Its restructuring is expected to finalised in October.   

GSMA Intelligence estimates for Q2 place SFR as the country’s second largest mobile operator in France by connections with 19.4 million. Orange was the largest with 24.7 million. Bouygues was third on 18.5 million and Iliad’s Free Mobile the smallest with 14.7 million.