ABSTRACT
Telecommunications apparatus such as phone masts, fibre optic cables, copper telephone cables and other apparatus being used for public electronic communications networks have long had their own distinctive code of law and approach, now called the Electronic Communications Code. The agreement providing for that may then often take effect as a lease. Operators may be either those running communications networks or infrastructure providers. In this respect, it is fundamentally different from the approach of say s.159 of the Water Industry Act in England, Wales whereby a water company can simply take rights on short notice. The Code's purpose is to provide operators with power to seek access to land and then defend its retention there where the apparatus achieves that end, while recognising some of the issues that arise for the site provider affected. The site provider's notice for termination must be founded on a breach of the agreement, non-payment of rent or redevelopment for the tribunal to consider it.
