France’s competition authorities said that new entrant Free Mobile should see its national roaming agreement with rival Orange brought to an end within the timeframes already agreed by the companies, noting that while this deal provides a way for the new entrant to begin services while building out its network, this option should be available for a limited time.

The Autorite de la Concurrence said that national roaming should not be extended beyond a “reasonable deadline”, noting that Free and Orange have a deal in place until 2018, with an option to break from 2016.

The guidance came after a probe into issues such as whether if mergers and acquisitions are not allowed, a pooling of investment is an allowable option; and whether roaming deals actually give new entrants an advantage, against the rules of infrastructure competition and potentially unbalancing the market.

The regulator has already said that it believes a merger that would see France return to having three mobile operators would be “not advisable”, describing the arrival of Free Mobile into the market as “an effective instrument for the creation of jobs, growth and improving the country’s competitiveness” in the long term.

Free has previously been linked with a merger with SFR, with claims that the regulators had been contacted about such a plan.

According to previous reports, Free Mobile is paying Orange more than EUR1 billion to use its network, making costs similar to those for the rollout of its own network.

In a wide-ranging document, the regulator also touched on the issue of 4G roaming, where Free participated in the auction but did not pick up any 800MHz frequencies – although it has gained a 2.6GHz allocation.

The watchdog said that while Free has a right to a roaming deal with SFR, it is “not desirable that [this] is used to compensate for an inadequate frequency allocation strategy”.

And with regard to 2G roaming it was noted that there is a lack of “economic logic” to building a network, this may prove a way for Free to provide services to customers with 2G-only devices. However, to prevent this being used as a way to avoid building out its 3G network, it was suggested that if a 2G roaming deal is in place after 2016, it should be limited to customers with 2G-only devices.

The document also noted that different approaches can be supported depending on issues such as population, with more collaboration allowed in rural areas (where the potential market is smaller), and less permitted in built-up areas.