"I think it's a movement that has become impossible," Martin Bouygues told analysts on Thursday, after the publication of the conglomerate's first-half results.

"It's a political choice that we have to accept," he added.

The French telecoms sector has been awash with regular merger speculation ever since a round of talks between Orange, Altice Europe's SFR and Iliad failed three years ago, ending an attempt to ease a price war that has hit the margins of all four companies.

(Reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic; Writing by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)