France Telecom, parent company of Orange, has lost an appeal against repaying state aid from the French Government. During an 8 year period running from 1994 till 2002 France Telecom, the third largest telecoms group in  Europe, was given special concessions on local tax and business tax in a move that had been deemed illegal by Brussels.

After a ruling two years ago by the European Court of Justice that found in favour of the Brussels ruling, the Court of First Instance ruled this week that the ruling should remain unchanged. This means that France Telecom have to pay from €798 million (around £730 million) to €1.14 billion (around £1.04 billion) back to the French Government, not including interest. Although the French Government and France Telecom have tried their hardest to have the ruling annulled, France Telecom has confirmed that the majority of the money owed is already waiting in its accounts…so the ruling can’t have been too unexpected.