Access to land under the GIA: considerations for regulation

This white paper aims to provide European regulators and policy makers with a comprehensive understanding of the land market for mobile telecoms infrastructure and the impact of land access regulation, with a focus on lessons learnt from the UK following the introduction of the Electronic Communications Code (ECC) in 2017. It also examines the potential implications for European markets under the forthcoming implementation of the Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA).

One objective of the GIA is to speed up, simplify and lower the costs of telecoms networks through regulation of parts of the value chain, including access to land. However, the regulation of the market for access to land could have detrimental effects on its functioning and reduce benefits brought about by investment in this segment. As a result, policy makers should rely on the approach set by the GIA only to solve specific challenges if they arise within the market for access to land. More generally, alternative approaches to regulating access to land, such as light-touch intervention or forbearance, are preferable as they allow for greater market flexibility and a beneficial optimisation of activities between land owners and tower companies and/or mobile network operators.

Potential interventions in the market for access to land, including price intervention, must be carefully considered to ensure unintended or counter-productive outcomes do not arise, as regulation could have detrimental impacts on the broader sector, negatively affecting consumer outcomes, network roll-out and achievement of digital targets. We explain these risks in this paper with reference to the implementation of the ECC in the UK.

Drawing on trusted independent data from key sources such as Opensignal, the paper highlights the divergence in market outcomes between the UK and comparable countries during the years of active ECC regulation. Through evidence-based analysis, it explores the dynamics of land access regulation, its broader market impacts, and alternative approaches to reduce implementation risks.

Furthermore, this paper establishes the important role of land aggregators in the European Union (EU)’s digital infrastructure value chain, offering policy makers an informed perspective to support effective regulatory frameworks and foster investment in the digital infrastructure needed to achieve the Digital Decade targets.