Making ‘gigabit- capable’ connections…

The Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill 2019-20 has been introduced in Parliament. The Bill would amend the Electronic Communications Code (the Code) to provide operators with a cheaper and faster process for installing equipment where a residential tenant in a block has requested a service and a landlord is unresponsive to the operator’s requirements in order to meet that request.

The Bill proposes a fairly complex procedure requiring two warning notices and a final notice to be served by an operator on a landlord. If the landlord remains unresponsive, the operator can seek interim Code rights for a period of no more than 18 months (after which time if the Code rights are to continue it is envisaged the operator will have reached agreement with the landlord or applied to have Code rights imposed). In England and Wales, the application would be made to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber). The Bill does not apply to commercial property at this point.

The Bill does not take forward many of the proposals set out in the Government’s 2018 consultation on this topic. The consultation covered both residential and business tenants and included proposals to allow operators to seek a warrant of entry via a Magistrates’ Court two months after first contacting a landlord, and sought to place an obligation on landlords to facilitate the deployment of digital infrastructure.

Read the Government’s response to the consultation and accompanying press release and follow the Bill’s progress.