Virgin Media O2 Nears Deal to Use BT Network to Expand Fibre Coverage
Key Facts
Virgin Media O2 is nearing a deal to use BT’s fibre network, known as Openreach, to serve customers in areas not covered by its existing network, according to a Financial Times report cited by Reuters on Friday. The potential arrangement would allow the company to expand service through its competitor’s infrastructure, as it was pausing efforts to upgrade its cable network to fibre as part of a broader cost-cutting programme, the same report said. Virgin Media O2 and BT did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment outside normal business hours. The report did not specify the terms of network use, the areas the deal would cover or its financial impact. That leaves the implementation details and potential commercial results among the aspects of the talks that remain undisclosed.
Using a competitor’s network is a potential route to expanding service alongside development of Virgin Media O2’s existing infrastructure. The company said in its second-quarter 2026 results that its fibre footprint had reached 9 million premises, while fixed-line customers totalled 5.5 million, down 29,900 during the quarter. The chief executive described the market as "highly competitive", citing the fibre footprint and the new wholesale partnership in remarks about the company’s performance. In February 2024, Virgin Media O2 said its cable and fibre network assets covered 16.2 million premises and announced plans to create a wholly owned, standalone fixed-network company. Those plans target converting the network to fibre, while the current report concerns the possibility of using Openreach to reach areas beyond existing coverage.
In its latest announced offering over its existing network, Virgin Media O2 said on 27 October that its Gig2 service provides an average download speed of 2,000Mbps and an upload speed of 100Mbps over its HFC network. The speed announcement comes as the report discusses a halt to cable-to-fibre upgrades, but the company did not confirm the pause to Reuters at the time of publication. Across the market, Ofcom said full fibre was available to 78% of homes, compared with less than a quarter five years ago. The regulator also said telecoms companies’ plans aim to extend service to around 29 million premises by the end of 2027. This expansion in coverage reflects the broadening infrastructure available to broadband providers, while Virgin Media O2’s potential use of BT’s network remains an arrangement whose details have not been announced.
These developments are taking place in a market where the UK Competition and Markets Authority is monitoring nexfibre’s acquisition of Substantial. On 2 October 2026, the authority said it had provisionally identified competition concerns in the wholesale supply of fixed broadband services. It then invited comments on 20 October on possible measures to address the adverse competitive effect it had provisionally identified. The parties to the deal said in February 2026 that it would enable investment of around £3.5 billion in the UK fibre market. That figure relates to the separate transaction and does not represent a disclosed value or investment for the potential Virgin Media O2 and BT deal.
The authority set 15 December 2026 as the statutory deadline for phase two of its investigation into nexfibre’s acquisition of Substantial. The date follows publication of the invitation to comment on possible measures, as part of a review of the deal’s impact on competition in the wholesale market. The information published about the deal reported by the Financial Times and cited by Reuters did not include terms or a timetable for its implementation. The two companies also did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment outside normal business hours. Details of the potential deal remain the development yet to be clarified, while the authority continues its regulatory process according to the set timetable.