Bouygues Telecom has obviously finished consolidating all claims for compensation site by site (Huawei) and is preparing to file an appeal with the Paris administrative court.

While the Council of State rejected in April the requests of Bouygues Telecom and SFR to annul the implementing decrees of the so-called “anti-Huawei” law passed in 2019, the Council of State recognized that the prohibition of certain 5G equipment forced operators to change their antennas and constituted a “limitation” to the right of ownership of operators. If, according to the French public institution, this limitation is proportionate to the aim sought, the operators always have the possibility of having their right to be compensated recognized before the administrative court.

Determined to obtain compensation, Olivier Roussat, managing director of the Bouygues group, insisted in July that the government must assume that it has changed the rules of the game and will have to get its hands on the wallet. This summer, Martin Bouygues' operator set out to draw up an exact assessment of the cost of work around the dismantling and replacement of thousands of Huawei antennas within 8 years. If a first estimate reported 900 million euros, the operator will finally claim 1 billion euros in damages from the State, reveals Challenges. Bouygues Telecom also plans to ask the courts for reimbursement of the damage suffered by its subscribers.