As O2, Three and Vodafone reveal a £1 billion programme to clear up areas of poor digital coverage within the UK, the Government has announced a consultation on changes to the Electronic Communications Code. The code regulates the rights of operators to install and maintain their equipment on public and private land.  Having listened to operators and landowners, the government now believes that some aspects of the code are in need of an update.

The consultation, which will close on 24 March 2021, will focus on three main areas of concern:

1. Operators and landowners regularly run into issues while attempting to agree code agreements to install equipment, which often result in protracted negotiations, delays and increased costs for both parties. The proposals aim to support more collaborative negotiations and provide more efficient ways to deal with disagreements.
   
   
2. There is uncertainty around the renewal of expired code agreements, as it is currently unclear what happens when they come to an end, which leads to further expensive and time-consuming negotiations and inconsistent results.
   
   
3. The Code includes automatic rights for operators to update and share equipment with other operators. The Government would like to clarify when these rights are available and what conditions must be met for the operators to take advantage of them. Operators may also get retrospective rights to share when equipment was installed before December 2017.