Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of changes to the 2017 Electronic Communications Code on (a) telecoms operator profits and (b) consumer prices for telecom services.

The 2017 changes to the Electronic Communications Code, which included changes to the valuation regime, were intended to support network deployment and facilitate infrastructure sharing. Following engagement with stakeholders about the impact of the 2017 reforms, government consulted on further changes to the Code, included in the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022.

A specific assessment of the impact that the 2017 reforms have had on small family businesses has not been carried out. The 2022 Act – which includes provisions that will, when commenced, extend the 2017 valuation regime to additional cases - received Parliamentary scrutiny and was subject to a published De Minimis Impact Assessment.

Given the commercial – and often sensitive – nature of most Code agreements, meaningful data on rents would be difficult to collect and assess. In addition, rent is only part of operators’ expenditure, any such data therefore could not be causally related with profits and consumer price changes.