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Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) is nearing a deal that will see the UK telco use rival BT's Openreach broadband network in areas not covered by its existing network. The Financial Times has reported that the deal is close to being agreed as Virgin Media O2 looks to scale back on planned upgrades and the expansion of its own infrastructure amid concerns over its £22 billion ($29.55bn) debt pile. Sources told the FT that VMO2 will use Openreach's network, which is expected to reach 25 million premises by the end of the year. The report claims that VMO2 is pausing the planned upgrade of its existing HFC network and future deployments of new FTTP infrastructure. Today's report comes weeks after another that VMO2's owners are looking to drive cost cuts of £600 million ($805m) at the UK telco. Virgin Media was set to receive a cash injection of £1.1bn ($1.48bn) in return for transferring 4.6 million homes onto a network owned by Nexfibre, another UK broadband provider owned by Virgin Media's shareholders. At present, Virgin Media and Nexfibre’s combined UK broadband network reaches around 19 million UK premises, of which nine million are served by their full fiber. As part of that deal, Infravia, Liberty Global, and Telefónica pledged to commit £1bn ($1.35bn) in new net funding for Nexfibre to fund the transaction. This is made up of £850m ($1.1bn) from Infravia and £150m ($201m) jointly from Liberty Global and Telefónica. However, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it could block Nexfibre's planned £2bn ($2.69bn) takeover of Netomnia, representing a significant blow for Virgin Media's full fiber goals. Virgin Media O2 declined to comment on the report.
document fetched 2026-10-31 02:54 · canonical https://datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/virgin-media-o2-nears-agreement-to-use-bts-broadband-network-report