France Telecom has said it may be forced to delay its initial public offering of Orange, the mobile phone company it is purchasing from the Vodafone Group, until early next year.

Jean-Louis Vinciguerra, France Telecom's chief financial officer, said that the complex structure of the share sale could jeopardise the company's plans for an IPO before the end of the year. Orange had originally hoped to float off Orange as early as the first week in December, according to sources close to the deal.