Part 2: Telecommunications Infrastructure Section 59: Upgrading and sharing of apparatus installed before December 2003
This Section inserts a new paragraph 17A into the Code, which confers on the main operator the right to upgrade and share relevant apparatus, subject to the same conditions as those contained in Section 59 above. It applies where the operator keeps apparatus (such as ducts and cables) that was installed prior to 29 December 2003 (the date on which Schedule 3 to the Communications Act 2003 came fully into force) under land, and where the operator is not a party to an agreement under Part 2 of the Code (which includes subsisting agreements).
	Subsection (4) amends paragraph 24 of the Code, which sets out how consideration is to be determined for an agreement imposed by an order under paragraph 20 of the Code. The amendment to the assumptions in paragraph 24(3) of the Code means that the new automatic right to share in paragraph 17A is not to be taken into account for the purposes of assessing the market value of a person’s agreement to confer or be bound by Code rights. This mirrors the provision in paragraph 24 of the Code which disregards the rights in paragraph 17 of the Code, and confirms that the valuation model remains the same notwithstanding the coming into force of paragraph 17A.