• Nexfibre’s £2bn Netomnia takeover deal on the brink 
• Telefónica closes in on Mexico divestment
• FCC releases more satellite spectrum

In today’s industry news roundup: The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) deals a blow to Nexfibre’s plan to acquire altnet Netomnia for £2bn; Telefónica looks set to sell yet another operation in the Americas; the US FCC releases additional spectrum for satellites and promises more is to follow; and much more!

Following a fast-track review, the UK’s competition watchdog has published its preliminary findings on the proposed £2bn takeover of fibre altnet Netomnia (aka Substantial) by Nexfibre – the fibre access network joint venture between Virgin Media O2’s parent companies, Liberty Global and Telefónica, and private equity firm InfraVia Capital – and it’s bad news for Nexfibre. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) warned in its interim report that the acquisition could result in a “substantial lessening of competition (SLC)” in the UK’s wholesale broadband market. Netomnia is one of the UK’s largest altnets, having built a fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network reaching 3 million UK premises: Nexfibre’s owners claimed a merger would create a large-scale rival to BT’s Openreach wholesale access network business and unlock £3.5bn in investment into the UK market. You can watch our interview with Nexfibre CEO Rajiv Datta here for further insight into the proposed deal. But in its interim remarks, the CMA has expressed concern that the deal might reduce competition to the UK wholesale fibre broadband market. The CMA has now invited comments from any interested party on its preliminary findings, which must be submitted by the end of the day on 23 October. More urgently, Nexfibre and Netomnia have just three working days to notify the CMA as to whether they intend to submit any remedies that might give the regulator cause to reconsider its views – if any remedies are to be submitted, they must be filed with the CMA by the end of Friday 16 October. If any remedies are submitted, the CMA will issue an invitation for any interested parties to comment, so this process is far from over! 

It’s clear that Nexfibre will indeed be submitting ideas that, it hopes, will reverse the CMA’s current position. In comments sent to the media, Nexfibre noted: “The CMA’s Interim Report does not reflect the commercial and competitive reality of Britain’s fibre market. It fails to prioritise the fibre investment the country needs, and the creation of a scaled, sustainable challenger to Openreach… Standing in the way of this deal would suggest that Britain is closing the door on international investment, further entrenching Openreach’s monopoly, and leaving consumers to pay the price.” Nexfibre added: “We will continue to engage constructively with the CMA to secure an outcome that backs sustainable competition, investment and growth.” Meanwhile, Nexfibre’s rivals have not hidden their glee at the CMA’s opinion. Major FTTP altnet CItyfibre, which has always opposed the Nexfibre/Netomnia merger, stated in comments shared with the press: “The CMA is right that this proposed transaction would significantly reduce competition and risks the benefits being delivered for UK consumers: faster speeds, greater innovation and lower prices. After recognising that harm, it is vital that the CMA takes the next step and blocks the deal." 

Telefónica is a step closer to offloading its Mexican unit Movistar after the country’s antitrust regulator gave its approval to Melisa Acquisition’s $450m takeover bid, which was first announced in April. According to reports in Mexico, the National Antitrust Commission has given the go-ahead for Melisa – which is a consortium led by telecom platform-as-a-service specialist Oxio and Newfoundland Capital Management – to buy Movistar, which is Mexico’s third-largest mobile operator with around 20 million customers. Reporting from El Economista claims formal notification will be granted in the coming week, clearing another regulatory hurdle in Telefónica’s long-running efforts to offload its Mexican unit. Should the deal close, it will be the latest Latin American asset to be sold off by the Spanish telco, following deals in Peru, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador, as it looks to improve profitability and reduce debt. 

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has made more than 1,000MHz of additional spectrum in the 12.7GHz and 42GHz bands available for satellite use cases, with more to come. With a vote of 3-0 by its current commissioners, the US regulator approved its Satellite Spectrum Abundance order, which will provide more downlink spectrum for consumer terminals, boosting bandwidth for in-home satellite broadband services. FCC chairman Brendan Carr noted that the aim of the agency’s “spectrum abundance” strategy is to “remove spectrum scarcity as a constraint on innovation”. He explained: “We’ve been running our spectrum abundance playbook for pretty much everything in the sky. Just last week, I was at the Small Business Administration talking about our plans to remove burdensome restrictions so drone operators can access the spectrum they need. We have taken multiple actions to free up spectrum for direct-to-device, with much more to come in the next few months. And, this past spring, the FCC broke new ground in exploring how to bring spectrum abundance to ‘weird space stuff’ – next-gen missions such as in-orbit servicing, refuelling, manufacturing, or operations on or around the Moon.” The Commission also looking into freeing up 450 MHz in the Ku- and Ka-bands, and up to 138.25 GHz in the extremely high-frequency D-band.

Gabriela Styf Sjöman has stepped down from her role as BT Group’s managing director of research and commercialisation, to return to Stockholm for personal reasons, she announced on LinkedIn. Noting that she has been “privileged to work alongside some truly brilliant people who continuously explore the art of the possible, challenge the status quo and push boundaries,” Styf Sjöman wrote that she was “happy to be handing over the ‘torch’ to my brilliant Networks colleague Chris Bramley. I know that what we have built together will be in excellent hands.” Styf Sjöman, who has previously worked at TDC, Telia, Nokia, Telecom Italia (TIM) and Ericsson, has featured regularly as part of TelecomTV’s programming and in-person event lineups over the years: Here she is talking about the evolution of OSS and BSS (which is also the topic of our most recent free-to-download TelecomTV report). We wish Gabriela all the best and hope to see her back in the industry in the future.  

More people news… Tommy Björkberg has ended his time as VP of network and cloud at Dutch national operator KPN to become the chief operating officer at New Zealand telco Spark. Björkberg, who had been at KPN for just less than two years, previously held roles at ZTE, O2 UK (now Virgin Media O2) and Ericsson. Spark CEO Jolie Hodson noted: “We are delighted to welcome Tommy to Spark. He brings deep global experience leading complex technology and network operations, along with a strong track record of driving transformation and improving performance at scale. Tommy combines technical expertise with a clear focus on customer outcomes and is known for building high-performing teams and delivering disciplined, long-term change. We are excited to have him join our leadership team.” In this post on LinkedIn, Björkberg noted: “KPN is one of those companies that is easy to underestimate from the outside. Once you are inside, you realise just how much capability, knowledge and commitment there is across the organisation. It is also, quite simply, one of the best companies I have had the privilege to work for.”

– The staff, TelecomTV