nexfibre challenges regulator in £2bn Netomnia takeover review
October 20, 2026 11.39 Europe/London By Julian Clover


nexfibre will not submit remedies to the Competition and Markets Authority for its proposed £2 billion acquisition of Netomnia, with its shareholders challenging the regulator’s assessment of the UK fibre market.

In a joint statement, InfraVia, Liberty Global and Telefónica described the CMA’s interim report as “fundamentally flawed”, arguing that its assumptions about what would happen without the transaction were commercially unrealistic.

The shareholders disputed the prospect of CityFibre acquiring Netomnia as an alternative outcome, alongside the assumption that investment associated with nexfibre’s proposal would proceed regardless.

“We engaged in good faith on potential remedies, including commitments on investment and wholesale access,” they said. “But there is no remedies package that can address the CMA’s current counterfactuals, and on that basis we have not submitted one.”

The transaction, announced in February, involves nexfibre acquiring Substantial Group, the parent of Netomnia and retail broadband brands YouFibre and brsk. Under the proposed structure, the retail operations would subsequently be sold to Virgin Media O2 for £150 million, leaving nexfibre to operate the wholesale network.

The partners have said the deal would unlock £3.5 billion of investment and help build a larger wholesale competitor to Openreach. Their original plan envisaged an enlarged platform reaching around 8 million full-fibre premises by the end of 2027.

The CMA referred the acquisition for an in-depth Phase 2 investigation in July. Rival CityFibre welcomed that decision, arguing that the takeover would remove a successful challenger and claiming approximately 80% overlap between the networks.

The latest statement places BT’s acquisition of TalkTalk at the centre of nexfibre’s challenge to the regulator.

“BT’s acquisition of TalkTalk is shrinking the available wholesale market, while CityFibre’s latest accounts and debt restructuring raise further questions about its financial viability,” the shareholders said. “The market has moved on and the CMA’s analysis must move with it.”

Virgin Media O2 had already called for greater scrutiny of BT’s purchase of TalkTalk and PlatformX Communications out of administration. It argued that transferring PXC to BT would remove an important independent source of wholesale competition and contrasted the treatment of that transaction with the Netomnia review.

The decision not to offer remedies does not amount to an announcement that nexfibre is abandoning the acquisition. Its shareholders said they remained ready to engage with the CMA once the regulator’s assumptions reflected what they considered the reality of the market.