UK CMA raises competition concerns over nexfibre acquisition of Netomnia

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued interim findings regarding nexfibre’s proposed acquisition of Netomnia, expressing concerns that the deal could diminish wholesale competition. The regulator noted that in areas where the two networks overlap, the merger could reduce the number of infrastructure competitors, potentially limiting choice for broadband providers and impacting competitive pricing.

The CMA suggested an alternative scenario where CityFibre acquires Netomnia, which would maintain three major competing infrastructure providers: Openreach, nexfibre, and CityFibre. However, nexfibre maintains that consolidation is necessary to create a financially robust challenger to Openreach, providing the scale required for significant network expansion and effective competition in the wholesale market.