East Riding of Yorkshire Council is to urge Ofcom to launch an emergency market review and pause the erection of more broadband poles in the Hull Telecoms Area.
Reacting to residents’ concerns, councillors feel that waiting until the next scheduled review in 2026 is too long to wait.
The council has limited powers to control the erection of more masts, since they don’t ned planning permission. Coun Coleen Gill said the review was necessary because more telegraph poles were being installed in areas across the Hull Telecoms Area, already served by an existing gigabit capable duct and pole Network.
She wanted Ofcom to consider:
1. Imposing a duty on telecoms companies to demonstrate reasonable efforts have been made to reach an agreement with existing providers for access to infrastructure.
2. Compelling existing providers to publish pricing for access to its infrastructure.
3. In the event that no agreement is reached, oblige companies to pursue a formal dispute via Ofcom, prior to installing further infrastructure of their own.
4. And to reiterate, stop any such installations until a Market review has been concluded.
