Netomnia is the UK’s fourth largest fibre broadband network; Liberty Global, Telefonica and their investment partner InfraVia plan to acquire the altnet through their Nexfibre joint venture
The Financial Times reports that Telefónica and Liberty Global, which jointly own the UK’s converged national operator Virgin Media O2, and their investment partner InfraVia Capital are to acquire Netomnia for about £2 billion. Netomnia is the UK’s forurth largest broadband network. The deal will be done through Nexfibre, the joint venture NetCo owned by Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia.
Nexfibre passes about 2.4 million homes. The acquisition of Netomnia will add another 3 million premises covered by fibre broadband infrastructure. Along with VMO2’s broadband (including cable) infrastructure aside from Nexfibre, VMO2’s reach will be extended to a total of about 20 million premises.
Netomnia’s 400,000 or so customers which are served under the retail brands, Brsk and YouFibre, will be integrated into VMO2’s operations as part of the deal, according to the FT’s unnamed sources, if the deal goes ahead. It will be subject to the usual regulatory scrutiny.
Yesterday we reported on Telefónica opening a London office which will report directly to the group COO and be lead by Mario Martin. He has worked within the Telefónica Group for 30 years and been instrumental in some blockbuster deals.
Fiercely competitive market
BT will still have the largest fibre and mobile networks: BT’s semi-detached wholesale fixed infrastructure arm Openreach covers about 30 million premises in the UK, 21 million of which are fibre.
CityFibre is the largest of the altnets and had expressed interest in acquiring Netomnia, which is owned by investors Advencap, DigitalBridge and Soho Square Capital.
Whether or not this particular deal concludes, it is part of an inevitable trend of consolidation of altnets in the UK, echoing the fate of regional cable companies decades ago which ultimately led to the formation of a single one: Liberty Global. Many altnets are debt-laden and failing to attract customers – some also might not find buyers.
