After losing out on the third French mobile communications operator’s licence to Bouygues SA, Alcatel Alsthom SA has been compensated by being allowed to invest between 20% and 25% in Cofira, the parent company of France’s second cellular operator Societe Francaise de Radiotelephone SA. In authorising the participation, minister of industry Jose Rossi required that Alcatel separate its activities in the service domain from its activities as manufacturer of equipment for the same domains. The guarantee is essential, particularly considering that the government refused Alcatel the third operator’s licence because of its mix of trades. At that time, says an unidentified high-level functionary quoted in Les Echos, Alcatel told us that the future subsidiary would be attached to General Occidentale, but we never saw this company at the auditions. Futhermore, we got no guarantee about the watertightness between the group’s different entities and Alcatel reserved for itself exclusivity of equipment supplier. This time, Alcatel says that a new subsidiary of its media division Generale Occidentale will be created to manage the stake in Cofira. It also promised to set up precise procedures to assure the confidentiality of information of the two branches (services and equipment). Neither does the stake mean that Alcatel will become the favoured equipment supplier for SFR, it said. To take over the 20% currently held by Credit Lyonnais, Alcatel will likely invest some $740m.
