The Electronic Communications Code - 2 years on banner

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The Electronic Communications Code - 2 years on.

The Electronic Communications Code (ECC) is a little over two years old and provides a guide as to how sites should be acquired and renewed.

Since then, there have been some tribunal decisions which have provided clarity to both the landlord and the telecoms industry. While we would prefer not to solve disputes through litigation, the ECC is a guide for operators and landowners to understand any issues and work through them together to come to an agreement.

In the last issue of Connected, we gave you a guide on Multi-Skilled Visits (MSV), with the aim of helping our landlords to understand what MSV’s are. A recent Court of Appeal decision in The University of London v Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited (2019) has also helped us to recognise that a right to carry out a survey (MSV) is a Code right.

What was the case about? Having lost a site close to Paddington Station, London and seeing a nearby site at St Mary’s Hospital struggling to cope with the extra demand for services, Cornerstone needed a new site near Paddington Station. We approached the University of London for permission to carry out an MSV at Lillian Penson Hall (a student accommodation building), however, access was refused as the University didn’t want apparatus to be installed on its land. Unable to secure a consensual agreement, the case went to tribunal. In October 2018, the Upper Tribunal decided that the right to survey a site was a Code Right. However, the UoL appealed that decision, but we gained further clarity on the case in December 2019, as the Court of Appeal upheld the Upper Tribunal’s decision.

We appreciate that the ECC is a new law that still requires further understanding within our landlord community. At Cornerstone, we are always open to discussion and encourage our landlords to speak to us regarding any site matters.

Visit our media hub to find out more about the Electronic Communications Code.

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