Plans for Virgin Media O2 to spin off its fixed network JV, NetCo, have been scrapped.

Telefónica CEO Marc Murtra confirmed the plans have been shelved for good, during the company’s earnings call this week.

Liberty Global had put on hold plans to find investors for Virgin Media’s O2 fixed NetCo in the UK, while Telefónica worked through its strategic review.

Both Liberty Global and Telefónica own a 50 percent stake in Virgin Media O2, a telco formed as a merger between Virgin Media and O2 in 2021.

However, Murtra this week confirmed that those plans have been scrapped, without providing a reason.

“The project is stopped,” Murtra told Reuters, noting to analysts that the “plan is not on pause.”

There had reportedly previously been plans to sell a 20 to 40 percent stake in the JV.

During the latest quarter, Virgin Media O2 reported that its fixed-line customer numbers dropped to 5.7 million for Q2, down by 51,000 subscribers.

For the quarter, Virgin Media O2 posted revenue of £2.175bn ($2.88bn), down 0.4 percent year on year.

“Against a tough trading environment, we have continued to be disciplined, delivering growth in profitability which means we are reconfirming our guidance for the year,” said Lutz Schüler, chief executive officer, Virgin Media O2.”

“Our significant network investments are continuing, as we leverage our scaled gigabit broadband network today and rollout fiber for future, and on the mobile side we continue to boost our network across the country, expand 5G Standalone to more areas and have announced a significant spectrum acquisition that will materially enhance our network performance in future, further improving customer experience.”

The company is currently pushing to rival BT’s Openreach for its full fiber rollout in the UK. During the quarter, the telco said it passed seven million premises. Earlier this week, Openreach passed 19 million.

Along with Nexfibre, which is an independent fiber joint venture between Liberty Global, Telefónica, and Infravia, the separate NetCo and Nexfibre networks will reach a combined total of up to 23 million homes, placing the company in a stronger position to compete with Openreach, which is aiming to deliver FTTP services to 25 million premises by 2026.

Nexfibre notably completed the acquisition of UK altnet Upp in September 2023 and plans to invest more than £350m ($467m) in Eastern England by 2026.