Ian Murray has been warned to reverse ‘damaging’ changes to a national 5G scheme which could push Scotland’s connectivity blackspots further into crisis point.
Landowners have raised concerns of an “unacceptable” rural and urban divide in connectivity, with warnings the issue could only worsen under UK legislation.
The former Scottish Secretary has taken up a new role as a minister in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, following his sacking from Sir Keir Starmer.
That will see him oversee changes to the Electronic Communications Code, which allowed telecommunication firms to override existing rent agreements for cheaper deals.
The Edinburgh South MP has been urged by landowners to roll back on the scheme, and future changes to 2017 legislation.
It meant telecoms firms no long need to pay market rent to private and public landlords, including farmers, councils, hospitals and small businesses.
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Landowners claim they have already lost out on around £200 million each year, with some rents originally agreed at around £5,000 annually now falling to £3.50 per year.
And in his first week in the job, Mr Murray confirmed he has no plans to drop new changes to the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Act, which industry bodies claim double down on the changes.
However, landowners have told The Herald they could withdraw from the scheme completely if any further expansion goes ahead – ultimately slowing down key connectivity targets.
It comes as a UK-wide survey of more than 500 mast hosts found that 35% are considering walking away, with respondents citing rent cuts of up to 90%.
Mr Murray has been warned that unless there is a change of course, Scotland – which is already home to some of the UK’s worst blackspots – could face deeper connectivity gaps if landowners withdraw.
Victoria Vyvyan, president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), told The Herald: “The behaviour of the mast operators has put the UK’s 5G roll out under threat and has jeopardised the Treasury’s wider ambitions for economic growth and connectivity.
“To close the unacceptable rural-urban digital divide, the government must work to accelerate roll out, and to do that they must make sure landowners are treated fairly.”
Ion Fletcher, director of finance policy at the British Property Federation described the legislation as “damaging” for landowners.
He added: “The findings of the survey back up what our members tell us: there is a need for a much more collaborative approach from mast operators.
“Far too often, our members face a lack of engagement to address legitimate concerns after operators make applications and get little or no co-operation from operators where essential building repairs are needed.”
In a recent parliamentary written response, Mr Murray said there were “no plans” to delay further roll out of the changes and said he expected it to be completed by the end of the year.
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Figures show that the ongoing row has stalled the UK roll out of 5G, with the nation now ranked 30 out of 39 countries for availability.
Meanwhile, legal disputes also skyrocketed since the 2017 changes, reaching 1,000 compared to just 33 tribunal cases between 1984 and 2017.
Landowners can challenge the rent cost once the lease comes up for renewal, however the tribunal stage can be costly and off putting, with Russell Glendinning, managing director of Cell:cm Chartered Surveyors previously telling The Herald the telecoms contracts were viewed as “high risk and low reward”.
Earlier this week, The Herald revealed that many of Scotland’s most tourist friendly locations were identified amongst the worst areas for mobile signal quality.
Stornoway, the main town on the Isle of Lewis, experienced a good connection around 65.8% of the time.
Seaside town Ayr was rated as having the second most unreliable connection in the country, at 67.3% good connection, followed by Prestwick with 67.5%.
Of the top 100 prime areas for mobile signal quality in the UK - just 11 are in Scotland, and eight of those are in Greater Glasgow.
A Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson said: “Our priority is to continue delivering high quality 5G networks across Scotland, which is critical to boosting growth and improving public services for the Scottish people.”
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