Date Time
UK Government reviews law on access to land for digital infrastructure
A government consultation has been launched on whether to make changes to the law around digital infrastructure, such as phone masts and broadband cabinets, with a view to providing more homes with improved internet and mobile coverage.
Announced by Digital Minister Matt Warman, the consultation will review the legal framework for building and maintaining these structures on private and public land.
While progress has been made since the UK’s Electronic Communications Code was reformed in 2017, stakeholders have reported that negotiations do not always progress smoothly and agreements can take a long time to complete. This is holding back homes and businesses from accessing better mobile coverage and much faster gigabit broadband.
What do we want? Better coverage! How do we want it? Without actual infrastructure
Matthew Hughes Wed 27 Jan 2021 // 16:25 UTC Share
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The UK government is looking to reform the laws governing how communications equipment is deployed and managed, in an effort to speed up the rollout of gigabit-capable connections.
A new consultation, opened today by Minister for Digital Infrastructure Matt Warman, will look at three problem areas: issues related to obtaining and exercising “code agreements,” which grant rights to maintain and deploy hardware on land belonging to a third-party; rights to upgrade and share existing equipment; and the lack of clarity surrounding what happens when a time-limited code agreement ends.
The Government has launched a consultation on whether to make changes to land access laws around the building of phone masts and broadband cabinets, to help speed up the rollout of better mobile and internet coverage.
Digital minister Matt Warman said the review would look at the legal framework around the building and maintaining of digital infrastructure on private and public land.
It follows reports from stakeholders that negotiations on such issues do not always run smoothly and can take a long time to complete, the Government said, which it suggested was holding back homes and businesses from accessing better mobile coverage and faster broadband connections.
Government reviews law on access to land for digital infrastructure
The government is consulting on changes to the legal framework for agreements on access to land for digital infrastructure.
From:
27 January 2021
A government consultation has been launched on whether to make changes to the law around digital infrastructure, such as phone masts and broadband cabinets, with a view to providing more homes with improved internet and mobile coverage.
Announced by Digital Minister Matt Warman, the consultation will review the legal framework for building and maintaining these structures on private and public land.
While progress has been made since the UK’s Electronic Communications Code was reformed in 2017, stakeholders have reported that negotiations do not always progress smoothly and agreements can take a long time to complete. This is holding back homes and businesses from accessing better mobile coverage and much faster gigabit broadband.
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