A new “Telecommunications Infrastructure (Consultation) Bill” has been put forward by MPs which proposes mandatory local consultation in relation to the installation of telecommunications infrastructure in residential areas and for connected purposes. Details of the bill are not yet known.

Some view the bill as response to the disruption caused by a huge increase in new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband infrastructure deployments across the UK.

It will be interesting to watch how this Bill develops given the risk that any measures slowing down deployments could undermine the benefit of 2016/17 changes to the Electronic Communications Code (which were designed to remove certain barriers to help speed up new deployments of mobile and broadband infrastructure).

Any measures which risk the disruption of the government’s Project Gigabit programme also seem unlikely to receive government support.

A second reading of the Bill is planned for 18 November. To find out more on the proposed bill, click here.