Having spent the past three decades building up a vast network of interests in the European telecoms sector, French billionaire Xavier Niel is in pole position to exploit the industry’s ongoing consolidation. “For me, it’s like playing Monopoly,” he says. But, of late, things haven’t been going entirely to plan.
Niel, who holds a 2.5% stake in Vodafone, had been hoping to grab the UK telco’s
