According to British media, Nexfibre, a joint venture between Liberty Global, Telefonica, and InfraVia Capital, will pay for and own Upp’s broadband network, which spans 175,000 premises in the east of England and its 4,000 customers.

In a statement, Nexfibre said it will “will gain a quality regional fibre network with low overlap of the existing Virgin Media O2 footprint and a build engine that will continue expansion in the region.”

Virgin Media O2, on the other hand, will proceed with aligning Upp’s fibre network and systems and offer its services to Upp’s subscribers.

The move is seen as a rollout plan which is already taking place. Nexfibre, with Virgin Media O2 as build supplier, is expanding its network in the East of England to reach more than 500,000 premises in 2026.

Outlets reported that the UK Government ordered the sale of Upp after finding out that its ownership by investment group LetterOne (L1) posed risk to national security.

L1, which has plans to create £1 billion broadband network, has founders including Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven.

According to British newspaper The Guardian, L1 has not been subjected to sanctions, but the founders, Fridman and Aven, are sanctioned in other countries. This prompted the UK Government to force the sale of Upp after reviewing L1’s ownership under the UK’s National Security and Investment Act.