Virgin Media O2 owners to challenge UK regulator over Netomnia deal
Virgin Media O2 co-owners Liberty Global and Telefonica said they will challenge the UK competition regulator’s opposition to Nexfibre’s £2 billion acquisition of Netomnia rather than offer remedies. Nexfibre said it would contest the regulator’s reasoning.
1. Challenge to regulator
Nexfibre said it would not submit remedies to address the Competition and Markets Authority’s concerns and would instead challenge its reasoning on the proposed acquisition of Netomnia.
2. CMA concerns
The CMA said the deal could substantially reduce competition and that it would have preferred CityFibre to buy Netomnia. Nexfibre said the CMA’s interim report relied on assumptions that did not reflect the UK fibre market’s commercial and financial reality, including that CityFibre would acquire Netomnia and that investment enabled by the deal would happen anyway.
