PARIS (Reuters) - French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron will meet Patrick Drahi, the billionaire owner of European telecoms group Altice (>> Altice), on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the latter's proposed bid for Bouygues Telecom, said a person familiar with the matter.
Macron has already expressed misgivings about the proposed takeover, which would see Altice subsidiary Numericable SFR (>> Numericable Group), number two in France, buy number three Bouygues Telecom.
The government is concerned that the operators will slow investments in mobile and high-speed broadband while the deals are carried out, and is also wary that an upcoming spectrum auction will not be carried out smoothly, the person said.
"The government must defend the public interest since telecoms is a key sector for the economy and the country," said the person.
(Reporting by Leila Abboud; Editing by Brian Love)
