2024 - who will recover the 2 million La Poste Mobile customers?

Particularly attentive to the file La Poste Mobile, Free, Orange and Bouygues Telecom covet the 2.3 million customers of the virtual operator owned by the French postal group and SFR.

The MVNO market has become a major strategic issue in recent years and the incumbent operators all want to take the biggest share of the pie. This is all the more clear when the fifth French operator in terms of customers, La Poste Mobile, which wishes to sell its shares to refocus on its postal activities, is currently coveted by the giants of the sector such as Free, Orange and Bouygues Telecom.

According to information from The echoes, these operators have all submitted offers to acquire the 51% of the shares held by the postal group, the remaining 49% belonging to SFR. This represents no less than 2.3 million customers for a valuation estimated between 600 and 750 million euros according to the newspaper.

A leading strategic investment for operators

Something rare enough to be highlighted, La Poste Mobile has become a profitable operator since 2022, obtaining an operating profit of 2.8 million euros, expected to reach 48 million euros in 2024. The brand is really attractive and its growth (+8% on average per year) is attractive to potential buyers who would have every interest in easily expanding their customer base.

SFR is not left out in the choice of the future investor. By owning 49% of La Poste Mobile, the positioning of the operator also plays a key role in the sales process. It has a right of approval over the majority share of La Poste in addition to providing the network to the 2.3 million customers of La Poste Mobile.

SFR could also decide to sell all of its shares in La Poste Mobile to one of the 3 candidate operators to pocket a nice envelope of several hundred thousand euros to replenish its coffers. As a reminder, SFR’s debt amounts to 24 billion euros at the end of 2023.