Dispute over Bouygues role in Orange hampers telecom merger progress: sources

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The two groups have set Sunday as a new deadline to find an agreement on the sale of Bouygues Telecom to Orange. The deal would cut the number of French telecoms operators from four to three, and would make Bouygues the second-biggest shareholder of Orange after the French state.

"We're working on these aspects as we speak and we can't anticipate at this stage the outcome of the discussions," Richard told Reuters at an event in Bordeaux on the deployment of optic fiber technology in the region.

(Reporting by Claude Canellas; Writing by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by James Regan)