ABSTRACT
The Telecommunications Code was initially introduced by the Telecommunications Act 1984, and was revised by the Communications Act 2003. The Telecommunications Act 1984 was enacted, in part, to open up the telecommunications sector to competition by privatising British Telecom and breaking its monopoly over the telecommunications network in the UK. The Old Code provides for network operators to obtain rights to install and maintain their apparatus on public and private land. Only those operators that apply for and receive approval from the Office of Communications (OFCOM) under s.106(3)(a) of the Communications Act 2003 are able to benefit from, and be subject to, the Old Code. When the Old Code was devised, the telecommunications network in the UK relied primarily upon landlines, with little communication by either internet or mobile telephony. The situation has changed enormously since the closing years of the 19th century and the opening years of the 20th.
