PARIS (Reuters) - France's biggest telecom stocks all fell sharply on Monday following the breakdown of tie-up talks between Orange and Bouygues that would have reduced the number of competing operators in the country from four to three.
As of 0718 GMT, Bouygues (PA:BOUY) was 15.9 percent lower, with Numericable SFR (PA:NUME) down 14.9 percent, Iliad (PA:ILD) down 12.9 percent and Orange (PA:ORAN) down 5.4 percent.
Orange-Bouygues talks aimed at creating a dominant French telecoms operator collapsed on Friday, ending an attempt to ease a price war that has ravaged sector margins.