(Telecompaper) French operator Bouygues Telecom has reached an agreement to sell its mobile network of 15,000 base stations to Free Mobile for EUR 1.8 billion if Bouygues's merger with Vivendi's SFR is successful. Bouygues CEO Olivier Roussat announced the deal to French paper Le Journal du Dimanche, and Free confirmed the agreement in a statement. The deal to divest Bouygues's mobile network and some frequencies pre-empts the Competition Authority's anticipated remedies and levels the playing field with Numericable, the cable operator that is also vying for SFR but has no mobile network.