United KingdomGOV.UK
CMA publishes ten third-party responses in nexfibre broadband merger inquiry
One remedies response and nine interim-report responses, all dated 6 November, are now open; the merging parties’ own responses are still to come; the statutory deadline is 15 December.
By Taxxa AI OyPublished 6 November 2026
The Competition and Markets Authority has published ten third-party responses in its Phase 2 investigationGOV of the anticipated acquisition of Substantial by the nexfibre joint venture
GOV, opening the remedies debate to outside scrutiny. The set comprises one response to the invitation to comment on remedies, from CityFibre, and nine responses to the interim report: CityFibre, Community Fibre, Community Fibre jointly with Warburg Pincus, Gigaclear, Grain Connect, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, a combined Third parties bundle, Third party A, and Trooli.
GOV All ten carry the date 6 November 2026.
GOV The merging parties' own responses to the interim report have not yet appeared and are to be published in due course.
The publication marks the point at which advisers to rival networks, wholesale customers and investors can test the provisional case. On 2 October 2026 the inquiry group provisionally found competition concerns in the wholesale supply of wholesale fixed broadband servicesGOV, with the full interim report and its appendices following on 5 October
GOV. The invitation to comment on remedies, issued 20 October
GOV, consulted on the actions the Authority might take to remedy the provisionally identified substantial lessening of competition and any resulting adverse effects
GOV. Both consultations have now closed
GOV: interim-report responses by 5pm on 23 October
GOV, remedies comments by 5pm on 27 October
GOV.
The transaction under examination is the anticipated acquisition by Liberty Global, Telefónica and InfraVia, through their nexfibre joint venture, of SubstantialGOV — including Netomnia, Brsk, Brsk ISP and YouFibre
GOV. The Authority referred the deal for an in-depth investigation on 1 July 2026
GOV under its fast-track procedure at the merging parties' request
GOV, and appointed an inquiry group chaired by Cyrus Mehta
GOV. To guard against pre-emptive action during the reference, interim undertakings offered by Substantial were accepted on 17 July 2026
GOV under section 80 of the Enterprise Act 2002
GOV, under which the Authority may accept undertakings to prevent action that might prejudice the reference or impede justified action on it
Legislation.
For practitioners, the immediate material is the newly published response set: rival full-fibre builders account for most of it, with Community Fibre appearing both alone and jointly with Warburg Pincus, alongside Gigaclear, Grain Connect, Trooli and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The earlier record — areas-of-focus responses from BT Group, CityFibre, Grain Connect, Hyperoptic, Sky and the parties jointly — shows the established intervener lineup these filings extend. With the statutory deadline of 15 December 2026GOV approaching, what remains on the published record is the parties' interim-report responses, still to be published in due course, with the inquiry running to the statutory deadline of 15 December 2026.
Legal basis: Enterprise Act 2002, Part 3 (merger references) and section 80 (interim undertakings to prevent pre-emptive action).
Read the newly published third-party remedies and interim-report responses and align any client submissions with the arguments now on the record before the 15 December statutory deadline.