France Telecom soaks up Orange.

Byline: Brian Cattell in London

Debt-encumbered France Telecom SA on Monday, Sept. 1, announced a long-awaited move to bring its mobile arm Orange SA back under full control through a [Euro]7 billion ($7.7 billion)buy-back of all the unit's publicly traded shares.

The timing of the move, however, came as a surprise. The French incumbent operator was expected to wait until the passing of a new telecom law before launching the share buyback program. The new legislation, which is currently before the French parliament, would allow the government's stake in France Telecom to fall below 50%.

The French operator plans to get around the lack of new …