nexfibre rejects CMA verdict on £2bn Netomnia takeover

nexfibre has rejected the UK Competition and Markets Authority's interim findings on its proposed £2 billion (€2.3 billion) acquisition of Netomnia, and its three shareholders have refused to submit any remedies package. The decision, announced on 20 October 2026, escalates a confrontation that could determine whether the UK altnet market consolidates or fragments.

The CMA published its interim report earlier in October. It raised concerns about a "substantial lessening of competition" and invited nexfibre to propose remedies. InfraVia, Liberty Global and Telefónica — nexfibre's three shareholders — have now answered with a joint statement that challenges the regulator's entire analytical framework.

Their core argument is methodological. The CMA, they say, built its assessment on counterfactuals that do not hold.

What do the shareholders actually dispute?

Two assumptions anchor the rebuttal. First, the CMA assumed CityFibre could acquire Netomnia as an alternative outcome. Second, it assumed the billions of pounds of investment enabled by the nexfibre deal would happen anyway.

The shareholders reject both. "The assumption that CityFibre will acquire Netomnia is not a credible basis on which to judge this transaction," their statement reads. "Nor is the assumption that the billions of pounds of investment enabled by this deal would simply happen anyway."

They also point to events since the interim report appeared. BT's acquisition of TalkTalk is shrinking the available wholesale market, they argue, while CityFibre's latest accounts and debt restructuring raise questions about its financial viability. In their words, "the market has moved on and the CMA's analysis must move with it."

Why is there no remedies offer?

This is the most consequential part of the statement. The shareholders say they engaged in good faith on potential remedies, including commitments on investment and wholesale access.

But they concluded no package could work. "There is no remedies package that can address the CMA's current counterfactuals, and on that basis we have not submitted one," the statement says.

For practitioners, this signals the deadlock is structural, not tactical. If the counterfactual stays as written, remedies on access or investment cannot bridge the gap. The deal's fate now rests on the CMA revising its framework rather than on behavioural commitments.

How does BT-TalkTalk factor in?

The shareholders accused the regulator of inconsistency. They highlighted what they see as a double standard: the CMA allowed BT's acquisition of TalkTalk while apparently disregarding legitimate competition concerns in that case.

That comparison matters for UK wholesale dynamics. A combined nexfibre-Netomnia would create a larger independent fibre wholesaler. BT absorbing TalkTalk, by the shareholders' argument, removes wholesale demand at the same time the regulator blocks wholesale supply consolidation.

What is at stake for the UK fibre market?

The statement frames the choice in blunt terms. "The UK now faces a stark choice: a real, funded plan to unlock £3.5 billion of investment and develop a scaled and sustainable challenger to Openreach, or a fantasy future that will never come," the shareholders said.

That £3.5 billion investment figure — roughly 1.75 times the headline acquisition price — is the commercial case the shareholders want weighed against the CMA's competition concerns. The challenger-to-Openreach framing positions the deal as market structure policy, not just M&A.

What happens next?

The shareholders said they "remain ready to engage constructively with CMA once the counterfactuals reflect the reality of the market." That condition sets the terms of any resumed negotiation.

The CMA must now decide whether to revise its counterfactual analysis, hold its position and block the deal, or test the shareholders' refusal in a final report. The outcome will shape how the UK's remaining altnets consolidate, and whether a scaled wholesale rival to Openreach emerges on nexfibre's timetable.