The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) raised antitrust concerns around Nexfibre’s planned takeover of fellow broadband player Netomnia, in provisional findings from a probe which could derail the tie-up.
CMA stated that as the pair compete as wholesale providers in their respective network footprints, there was a chance of overlap which could lead to increased prices for customers.
It has asked the two companies to provide remedies within the next two weeks, while interested parties can submit comments on the provisional report until 23 October. The deadline for a final decision is 15 December.
Nexfibre, owned by Liberty Global, Telefonica and InfraVia Capital, announced the deal to acquire Netomnia in February.
Should the deal go through, VMO2, also owned by Liberty Global and Telefonica, pledged to commit traffic across 4.6 million homes.
CMA said that while there is some uncertainty regarding the timing of the future upgrade, it was satisfied there was a long-term incentive for the operator to go ahead with the plan.
Not real In a joint statement on behalf of Nexfibre shareholders, the company stated: “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.”
In the lengthy CMA report, the watchdog also said it believed CityFibre would have most likely agreed a deal to buy Netomnia, had Nexfibre not made a move.
Mobile World Live brings you our top three picks of the week as European Union (EU) governments pushed for changes to high-risk supplier rules, Nvidia’s chief weighed in on the AI model distillation debate and Poste Italiane boosted its stake in Telecom Italia.
Governments press EU to change high-risk supplier plan
What happened: European governments pushed for amendments to a European Commission (EC) proposal that would require operators to remove network equipment supplied by vendors deemed high risk, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.
Why it matters: Early this year, the EC published a Cybersecurity Act proposal outlining a 36-month phase out for high-risk third-country supplier equipment in mobile networks. However, EU member states have reportedly called for the phase out period to be determined by several factors rather than a fixed deadline, including level of risk, equipment lifespans, compatibility requirements and the availability of alternatives. The proposed rules are expected to affect Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE.
Mason Hurlocker of Bloomsbury Intelligence and Security Institute (BISI) stated “the reforms carry a range of political, operational, security and economic risks”, adding it is possible the EC narrows its provisions “given industry cost warnings and resistance from some member states to mandatory rip-and-replace obligations”. AGSMA Intelligence report estimated mobile network replacement would cost the industry between €30 billion and €40 billion.
Nvidia chief says AI model distillation is fair competition
What happened: In an interview with CNBC, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said AI model distillation should be treated as competition rather than theft, putting him at odds with US officials over the practice.
Why it matters: Huang said developers are entitled to test competing products, comparing distillation with competitors taking Nvidia chips apart to understand how they work. “That’s called competition,” he apparently said. He further argued the burden is on providers to control access, stating: “if you don’t like people to use your products… disable the service.”
The comments come after US officials accused Chinese AI players of conducting industrial-scale distillation campaigns against US models. Anthropic separately alleged that Chinese companies including Alibaba and DeepSeek used large numbers of accounts and proxy networks to extract capabilities from Claude.
Otis Yi, programme director at digital entertainment platform GashPoint, said “the dispute centres on how those outputs are obtained and whether the model owner has authorised their use”, adding industrial-scale extraction can raise “separate questions about contracts, intellectual property and enforcement”. Mark Seery, founder of consulting and technology advisory firm Bohcay, argued: “Competition matters. So does authorisation.” He noted “the customer does not own the underlying infrastructure”, adding when they exceed agreed rights, “that is not simply “testing a product”; it may be a contractual violation with legal consequences”.
Poste Italiane secures 85% stake in Telecom Italia
What happened: Poste Italiane secured an 85.8% stake in Telecom Italia (TIM) after completing the second and final phase of its public tender offer.
Why it matters: The postal group acquired an additional 65.7% of TIM, building on the 20% stake it acquired last year when it replaced Vivendi as the operator’s largest shareholder. The tender offer, launched in July, valued the transaction at around €13 billion and offered shareholders €1.67 in cash per share.
In March, the company had outlined plans to take TIM private. However, Reuters reported the result leaves Poste well short of the 90% threshold needed to take it private, leaving it to consider other options.
The operator’s board has since acknowledged Poste’s exercise of “direction and coordination” over TIM and its subsidiaries, and approved new rules covering operational governance and information flows between the companies. Alessandro Marchesini, a TIM board member, described the transaction as the closing of an “important financial chapter”, adding, “now the industrial one begins”. He said the focus would shift to “turning the opportunities created by this transaction into projects, collaboration and long-term value”.
US President Donald Trump (pictured) reportedly continued to dismiss concerns about any threat AI poses to humanity while repeating his claim guardrails would impede its development.
In a wide-ranging interview with Time Magazine published yesterday (1 October), Trump stated he liked Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei after a recent dinner. He praised the executive’s intelligence and claimed Amodei’s actual views differed from how they were portrayed in the media.
In mid-June 2026, the Trump administration issued a directive instructing Anthropic to suspend access to its advanced models over national security concerns related to potential jailbreaking vulnerabilities but then reversed course around a month later.
“I liked him and his wife a lot,” Trump told Time Magazine. “Very smart guy. Maybe different than I thought, a little bit. Really a little bit different. But no, he understands.”
Trump hosted a meeting at the White House with some of the top AI executives, including Amodei, on 29 September, which led to participants signing a voluntary framework focused on industry self-regulation and internal oversight.
The president has opposed any sort of guardrails for AI from the government, claiming they would hamper development and lead to China overtaking the US. Trump told Time Magazine his guardrail against AI labs is enforcement by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Department of Justice.
“Look, I say, if you’re going to seek regulation, they can put you out of business,” he said in the magazine interview. “Now you do have to be responsible for yourself, and there aren’t a lot of people that understand what’s going on”.
“This is a new one that is much different than people have ever seen before. But my attitude is, we’re winning against the world by a lot, and I want to keep winning,” he added.
Time Magazine noted 71% of US citizens oppose building data centres while 57% believe AI will do more harm than good. Trump has repeatedly referred to AI concerns as a hoax.
In the interview he claimed data centres “make a fortune” and would lead to lower taxes.
Trump also indicated he could be interested in the US government owning a stake in in Anthropic or OpenAI, similar to the deal he struck with Intel.
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