Orange, Bouygues Telecom and Free-iliad Group will submit an antitrust file to their respective competent authorities, Orange Chief Executive Christel Heydemann says in a call. The French telecommunication operators agreed to acquire most of Altice's French business, SFR, for 20.35 billion euros. Orange and Bouygues will file with the French antitrust authority, while Iliad will submit its file to Brussels, she says. There is no automatic lead jurisdiction for this transaction, she adds. "Brussels and the French antitrust authority will have to agree on who takes the lead on the analysis of this file, knowing that two of us are in Paris and one in Brussels," she says. The most important factor is to have one authority in the driving seat to ensure the process is efficient, she adds. Orange shares are up 0.5% and Bouygues shares are down 1.5%. ( najat.kantouar@wsj.com)

If approved by regulators, the Bouygues-led acquisition would rank among the biggest European telecoms deals in recent years.

Les opérateurs Bouygues Telecom, Iliad (Free) et Orange ont annoncé samedi soir avoir signé un protocole d’accord avec Altice France en vue du rachat de sa filiale SFR, pour un…