The deal is done: Following days of talks, Vivendi (EPA: VIV) SA’s SFR mobile phone unit will buy Louis Dreyfus & Cie.‘s 29.5 percent stake in telecom provider Neuf Cegetel for 2.12 billion euros ($3.05 billion). It has also offered 4.5 billion euros ($6.4 billion) for the remaining 59.5 percent stake of Neuf Cegetel it doesn’t yet own. The deals would put Vivendi in the position to challenge incumbent France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) in mobile, fixed, and broadband services. Neuf Cegetel brings 3.1 million high-speed Internet users to SFR, which has 34 percent of France’s mobile market, compared to France Telecom’s 45 percent.

Paris-based Jerry Bellman, an analyst at Kepler Equities, told Bloomberg, “This would create a more formidable competitor. For SFR, this is a defensive move, to be well-positioned for fixed-mobile convergence.’’ Vivendi has recently made more moves in the content market—both as an operator and a content producer, but has never really pushed them.  In November, SFR launched llimythics offering a range of tariffs bundling voice minutes with unlimited data access—though critics complained not all data usage was actually unlimited. Vivendi also unveiled a portal called zaOza available on both PCs and mobiles to “give users access to a wide range of entertainment products offered by Vivendi”. Perhaps with its purchase, we’ll now see a more concerted effort in the new year.