InfraVia, Liberty Global and Telefónica agree £2 billion deal for Netomnia

The joint venture company nexfibre is to buy Netomnia (YouFibre and brsk) in a £2 billion deal, following on from substantial rumours over the last few months.

Substantial Group, which most people will know as Netomnia, with the retail full fibre brands YouFibre and brsk. The £2 billion deal includes selling the customers from the YouFibre and brsk brands to Virgin Media O2 for a sum of £150 million. Our understanding from reading the press release is that your actual connection once the move is complete will remain using the same XGS-PON network, but billing, support and other ISP functions will be handled by Virgin Media O2. Obviously, this will not happen overnight, and customers should receive more information as the process progresses.

“By bringing our strengths together, we are creating a scaled and financially secure wholesale fibre challenger to BT Openreach – one that will enhance competition, strengthen the UK’s digital infrastructure and deliver greater choice and quality for consumers and businesses.   

This transaction unlocks £3.5 billion in international investment and reflects our shared confidence in the UK as a highly attractive market for longterm investment, supported by the government’s economic policies. We are committed to accelerating fullfibre coverage and helping ensure the UK remains competitive and ready for the future.”

Joint statement from Vincent Levita, Founder & CEO, InfraVia Capital Partners, Mike Fries, Chairman & CEO, Liberty Global and Marc Murtra, Chairman & CEO, Telefónica

“This transaction creates the largest alternative fibre platform in the UK, establishing the foundation for much-needed altnet consolidation, and sustainable wholesale competition. It will help drive innovation and deliver the economic and societal benefits that full fibre connectivity makes possible.”

Rajiv Datta, CEO, nexfibre

“This landmark transaction with nexfibre represents the natural evolution of the UK’s fibre market. Consolidation has been inevitable, and this deal creates the scaled, sustainable platform needed to drive genuine wholesale competition. Importantly, our retail brand, YouFibre, will remain post-close, ensuring our customers continue to receive the same trusted service they know today, while benefiting from the financial strength and infrastructure scale this combination delivers. This is about building a stronger future for UK fibre.”

Jeremy Chelot, Group CEO, Substantial Group

The acquisition gives nexfibre an increased footprint with their statement saying this will mean 3.4 million RFS full fibre premises and 500,000 customers from the Substantial Group.

“The combination of nexfibre, Substantial Group’s fibre network (Netomnia) and the customers on 2.1 million Virgin Media O2 premises (which will be upgraded to fibre by nexfibre), will create a scaled, financially secure challenger to BT Openreach, with a full fibre footprint of around 8 million premises by the end of 2027. When combined with the growing fibre footprint of Virgin Media O2, co-owned by Liberty Global and Telefónica, the two networks will collectively reach 20 million premises and give internet service providers a highly attractive wholesale alternative to the incumbent.   “

Extract from press release

We have copied directly part of the press release, to ensure the language is correct, with some quick checking of the coverage database, we can see 2.1 million premises where Netomnia XGS-PON is available and currently coax DOCSIS 3.1 is available. For Virgin Media O2 customers, it appears that those 2.1 million premises will see their coax service migrated to the XGS-PON FTTP service that yesterday was the Netomnia footprint, and this will be carried out by nexfibre. For those upgraded from coax to XGS-PON, as Virgin Media O2 has the same broadband products, it should be a 1:1 swap, but moving from DOCSIS to FTTP will mean old TV set-top boxes and PVR devices will need changing to the latest IPTV streaming units. Virgin Media O2 will obviously be paying nexfibre the wholesale fees for the upgrades and ongoing subscription rates.

“VMO2 to pay wholesale fibre access fees on its customers within the 2.5m VMO2 homes that overlap the Netomnia fibre footprint, to begin at closing. “

Extract from press release

Later in the press release, there is this statement, which at first glance seems at odds with the 2.1 million figure, but the devil is in the details. Our coverage data, if you count Virgin Media DOCSIS 3.1, RFOG, and nexfibre XGS-PON, is actually a footprint of 2.5 million premises and this statement we believe is referring to this larger footprint.

In basic Gigabit terms, the acquisition based on our thinkbroadband data means Virgin Media O2, once the acquisition completes, will have a footprint of 19.35 million premises where Gigabit options are available.

Looking at the full fibre footprint, i.e. Sustantial Group, nexfibre, and Project Mustang, our data shows a footprint of 8.1 million premises, agreeing with the statement “a full fibre footprint of around 8 million premises by the end of 2027”. The wording “by the end of 2027” gives an idea of the timescale for actual merging and moving Netomnia customers to Virgin Media O2 via nexfibre. It seems the Virgin Media RFOG footprint from Project Lightning is not included in that figure, probably because it is still DOCSIS 3.1 delivery inside the premises and old-style set-top boxes.

We will work on an explainer article for the various differences in the Virgin Media O2 footprints, as it can be confusing how the different technologies are counted, and it makes a big difference in the perception of competition.

UPDATE 2:05pm Wednesday 18th February 2026

The CityFibre CEO has issued a statement with respect to the purchase.

“There is an 80% overlap between these two players and, if the deal goes ahead, it would significantly reduce competition and the choice available to consumers, as well as force hundreds of thousands of Netomnia customers back to VMO2. Given the scale of this overlap, the CMA must thoroughly examine the deal.

Competition has driven lower prices, faster speeds and better services and this deal risks re-establishing an ineffective duopoly of BT and VMO2 and undermining the significant progress the UK has made.“

Simon Holden, Chief Executive Officer, CityFibre

The issue around the overlapping nature of the Virgin Media O2 networks in its various flavours has been a topic of debate ever since the acquisition rumours started, and CityFibre was seen as another merger option for Netomnia. With the acquisition process now official, it is down to how the CMA will view the deal and its impact on the UK broadband market, not just in the next few months but in the following decades.