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Network operator nexfibre, which shares some parentage with its UK ISP partners Virgin Media (O2) and giffgaff, has just published their latest quarterly Q4 2025 build update and confirmed that their new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network now covers 2.6 million UK premises. But future expansion looks set to come from consolidation.
Just to recap. Back in 2022 Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners setup nexfibre as a new £4.5bn joint venture (here), which aimed to deploy an open access (wholesale) full fibre network to reach “up to” 7m UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT served by Virgin Media’s own network of 16m+ premises. The funding reflects £3.3bn of fully underwritten financing and up to £1.4bn in equity commitments.
However, as existing readers will already know, nexfibre’s roll-out plan suffered a significant blow last year after Telefonica launched a Strategic Review of their global business (here and here). The decision has since resulted in nexfibre scaling back their planned roll-out, which in practical terms means there isn’t currently a solid build plan for going beyond the current level of coverage. But as the recent deal to acquire Netomnia’s network shows, the focus now seems to be on expanding coverage through consolidation (here).
The latest Q4 2025 build update from nexfibre reflects the aforementioned change and confirms that their full fibre network has now reached 2.6 million premises as ready for service (up from 2.44m in Q3). But as is clear from their latest roll-out update and map, there’s currently no significant new fibre build planned for 2026 (this may change once the deal with Netomnia is done and they can plan for future deployments).
Rajiv Datta, CEO of nexfibre, said:
“With our network now extending to c. 2.6 million premises, we’re proud to be among the UK’s leading alternative fibre providers.
As we look ahead, I’m delighted that our shareholders InfraVia, Liberty Global and Telefónica have announced an agreement to acquire Netomnia, with more than 3 million fibre premises and 460,000 customers.
The combination of nexfibre, Netomnia and more than 2 million Virgin Media O2 premises, which will be upgraded 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, our two networks will collectively reach 20 million premises, giving ISPs a highly attractive wholesale alternative, and enabling faster access to fibre for millions of homes and businesses across the UK.
I look forward to working with the Netomnia team over the coming months.”