France's biggest telecom operator Orange has ruled itself out of bidding for smaller rival Bouygues Telecom, causing share prices across the sector to drop on the prospect of the cut-throat competition continuing.A price war sparked by low-cost player Iliad's arrival to the mobile market in January 2012, has resulted in open talk of consolidation in recent months. Third-place mobile carrier Bouygues has become a target after losing out in a bidding war in April to purchase bigger rival SFR to cable group Numericable.Orange acknowledged in May it was examining what role it could play in French consolidation and sources said that it had held informal talks with Bouygues Telecom.In a statement issued on Wednesday, the company said: "Orange has examined the possibilities of participating in an operation that would lead to consolidation in the French telecoms market, and believes that it cannot pursue this avenue at the present time as the conditions that the Group has set have not been met."
Orange SA, formerly France Telecom SA, is a France-based company that is engaged, principally, in the provision of integrated telecommunications services. Shares of ORAN fell by 3.61% or $-0.583/share to $15.55. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $9.10 and as high as $17.43. On average, 562506 shares of ORAN exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 255078.
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