Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the adequacy of the availability of land and property for new 5G infrastructure and (b) its impact on the UK telecoms market.

The department has not carried out an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of land or property for 5G infrastructure, and this is not an issue previously raised by industry. The Electronic Communications Code provides the regulatory framework by which telecommunications operators gain access to land and property to deploy infrastructure. This aims to balance the rights of site providers and operators to facilitate infrastructure deployment on public and private land, as well as encouraging the sharing of infrastructure.