Chamber and committees

All legislative and regulatory responsibility for telecommunications rests with the UK Government and Ofcom respectively, and as such, the current consultation relates to a reserved matter. However, the Scottish Government is supportive of the Electronic Communications Code which aims to reduce barriers to deployment of digital infrastructure and promote infrastructure sharing between operators. It is important that UK legislation and regulations supports the Scottish Government’s ambition to be a truly digital nation.

The Scottish Government is in dialogue with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on a number of issues relating to barrier removal and shares the view that the 2017 reforms to the Electronic Communications Code have had a more limited impact than originally envisaged. Scottish Government officials have engaged with stakeholders to understand any issues that have been experienced in utilising the Electronic Communications Code, and in particular, any Scottish-specific impacts that have emerged. If appropriate, our consultation response will reflect this and we will continue to engage with DCMS to try and ensure that Scottish interests are represented and reflected in any revised Electronic Communications Code.