Orange Loses in Appeal the iPhone Exclusive Partnership in France

The decision taken last December by the French Anti-monopoly Council was confirmed today by the Appeal Court. Orange will no longer be the unique carrier to be able to offer the iPhone to its customers in France. Bouygues and SFR can now fully launch their respective offers, will most likely actively promote them in the coming days and weeks.
In addition, Apple will have to give access to the iPhone distribution channel as it does for Orange. The exclusive partnership around the iPhone is almost killed in France. It will most likely impact Orange, and non necessarily Apple, as the company should expect more iPhones to be sold in France in the coming weeks, as the two alternative carriers will most likely cut their margins to attract back some customers, or push some of their customers to adopt the iPhone.
Orange decided to continue the action by claiming that this procedure was not legal, however such request usually takes time, can be appealed, and does not suspend the current decision. One should notice that today's decision concerning the iPhone will also be valid for any exclusive partnership between a carrier and a mobile phone manufacturer in the future.