The High Court has recently allowed an operator to enter property to carry out a survey to assess whether the property was suitable to install electronic communications apparatus. The Electronic Communication Code allows operators to have code rights to enter properties to "carry out any works on the land for or in connection with the installation of electronic communications apparatus." Here the operator wished to carry out a survey of a University of London building to assess whether it was suitable site on which to place its equipment. The University of London argued that such a survey did not constitute works and therefore the operator was not entitled to have access to the property under the Code. The court disagreed and held that the right to enter to carry out a preliminary survey could be granted as a code right on an interim basis.
The new Electronic Communications Code came into force in December 2017. The code is two years old and this case is the latest in a run of litigation concerning it since its implementation. The cases continue to help operators and practitioners alike interpret some of the less than clear provisions of the code and clarify how it will operate in practice in the future.
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