French press sources this week have pointed to the existence of early-stage talks between Orange and Bouygues over a merger. Our take is that the anti-trust hurdles in its way would derail such a move on either broadband or mobile over-concentration. It is more likely however that Orange may look for content assets from Bouygues elsewhere within the conglomerate, and not get bogged down in an anti-trust tussle unless the Government gives it tacit approval. Last week Orange went as far as denying reports that it was in merger talks with Telecom Italia, and instead it dropped strong hints that it was pursuing other acquisitions – hence Bouygues. Now everyone in the French market has at some time or another…