Bouygues Telecom, Free-Iliad Group, and Orange have confirmed talks are underway to acquire a large portion of Altice Group’s telecoms assets in France.

In a joint statement, the three telcos confirmed that discussions to acquire the assets are ongoing.

The announcement comes a few months after Altice owner Patrick Drahi swiftly rejected a €17 billion ($19.87bn) offer for its SFR mobile unit in France.

In a joint statement, the consortium, made up of the three carriers, said that due diligence work was initiated earlier this month, but noted the legal and financial terms of the transaction have not yet been agreed upon.

The telcos added that there’s no guarantee that an agreement will be reached.

“A communication to the market will be made as and when appropriate, depending upon the status of the project and in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements,” said the joint statement.

Further details around a potential deal were not disclosed, though previous reports have indicated that Bouygues Telecom, Free-Iliad Group, and Orange will split Altice’s telecoms assets between them in a move that will shrink the market from four to three.

The previous offer fell short of the near €30bn ($34.88bn) that Drahi wants for the carrier.

SFR has around 26 million mobile customers across France. But the telco’s parent company, Altice, is looking to ease its overall debt, which currently sits at €15.5bn ($18bn) after a debt restructuring earlier this year.

The breakup of SFR is poised to benefit Bouygues the most, given the company already has a RAN infrastructure sharing deal in place with Altice.

The offer isn’t a surprise, given reports over the summer suggested the three telcos could make an offer to buy out SFR assets, as part of plans to break up the telco.

Altice has sold a number of assets in recent years, as the telecoms group pushes to ease its debt.

The company spun off its French data center assets in 2023, forming a new company with more than 250 facilities in France, which were then sold to Morgan Stanley.

Altice has been in talks over a deal to sell its Portuguese mobile unit, and has separately looked to sell off its data center unit in the country. The group also sold its 24.5 percent stake in UK telecoms giant BT to Bharti Airtel in 2024.