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Q: I hear changes are being made to the rules governing phone masts on rural land. What will it mean for landowners like myself who have a designated Telecoms Mast Site?

A: As you rightly say, major changes are being considered to the Electronics Communications Code, which forms part of The Telecommunications Act 1984. This is UK-wide legislation and could have a major impact on farmers and rural landowners across the UK.

The reforms are currently under consultation so no decisions have been made yet, but they are long overdue as the current code is out-of-date and lacks clarity. It is especially important as the government announced a £5 billion deal in February with service providers to improve phone signals in the countryside. With a target of 85 per cent of the UK be covered within three years, it means that there will need to be a significant increase in the number of mobile phone installations currently operated throughout the countryside.

The Code provides procedures for the management of electrical communications equipment, including telecoms mast sites, and gives telecom operators the right to apply to the court to compel a site provider to agreed terms for the installation of telecoms equipment, and to keep equipment in place beyond the end of the lease.

Currently, an operator has a period of 28 days from the receipt of a Notice to Quit in which to serve a Code Counter Notice. There is no fixed time period within which the telecoms operator requires to make such an application. There comes a point at which the site provider is able to raise an action of removal – however, this point is not defined and there is often a period of limbo when the operator may seek to negotiate new terms with the existing site provider or relocate to a new site.

One of the proposals of the new Code is that the period of limbo is removed, and that a site provider must give the telecoms operator at least 18 months’ notice prior to termination. Thereafter, the operator has a three-month period in which to serve a Code Counter Notice. The operator then has a further three-month period in which to apply to the court.

It is also proposed to extend rights to allow operators to assign sites, to upgrade and to site-share with other operators without additional payment to the site provider. Such provisions would be retrospective.