UK regulator says Nexfibre-Netomnia deal could hurt competition

By Reuters News

LONDON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Britain's competition watchdog said on Friday it had provisionally found that Nexfibre's acquisition of fibre broadband operator Netomnia could substantially reduce competition in the wholesale supply of fixed broadband services.

Nexfibre, a joint venture backed by Liberty Global, Telefonica and InfraVia, agreed to buy the owner of Netomnia, the country's second-largest "altnet" fibre network, for £2 billion ($2.7 billion) in February.

Nexfibre said the Competition and Markets Authority's findings did not reflect the reality of Britain’s fibre market.

"It fails to prioritise the fibre investment the country needs, and the creation of a scaled, sustainable challenger to Openreach," the company said in a statement.

The buyers now have an opportunity to submit remedies to answer the CMA' concerns by October 16 before the regulator takes a final decision.

The deal will add more than 3.4 million fibre premises and over 500,000 customers to the partners' British footprint, which will reach 8 million premises with full fibre by the end of 2027, challenging BT's national Openreach network.

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