New telegraph poles for broadband: rules and objections

Full fibre broadband runs fibre all the way to your home, rather than to a street cabinet with copper wire for the last stretch, which is what Ofcom calls part-fibre (our guide to what full fibre broadband is explains more). To reach every door, a network builder first has to get fibre along your street: underground in ducts, or overhead between telegraph poles. Where usable ducts or poles already exist, many builders reuse them. Where they don't, the choice is between digging and putting up new poles.

ISPreview, the broadband news site, reported in September 2024 that operators like poles because they are quick and cost-effective, work where there's no room for underground cables, avoid much of the disruption of digging, and can go up under permitted development rights with minimal prior notice. It noted that poles are often around 9 metres high.

It isn't only Openreach that builds this way. Many altnets (independent full fibre networks) use overhead routes too. Connect Fibre says it builds under its Ofcom code powers, reusing existing ducts and poles where possible and digging new routes only when needed. Gigaclear says overhead installations connect from the nearest serviceable telephone pole, where possible following the route of your existing phone line.

The legal starting point is the Electronic Communications Code, in Schedule 3A to the Communications Act 2003. Under section 106 of the Act, it applies to a company when Ofcom gives a direction applying it, and only for providing a communications network or infrastructure that networks use. Companies with this status are called code operators, and their rights are known as code powers.

Part 8 of the Code gives code operators "street work rights". In plain terms, they can install and keep equipment in, on, under, over, along or across a street, maintain and upgrade it, and break up or open the street to do so. In England and Wales, "street" here means a maintainable highway under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991: broadly, a publicly maintained road with its pavements and verges. That's why most new poles go in the pavement or verge, and why an operator doesn't need each resident's permission there.

Private land is different. The Cabinet Siting and Pole Siting Code of Practice says written agreement from the owner or occupier is needed where a new pole goes on land that isn't publicly maintained highway. Openreach says it has powers to seek consent through the court but will only use them if absolutely necessary. Our guide to broadband wayleaves covers these private-land agreements.

Lines over neighbouring land. An operator with equipment on one piece of land can fly lines over the land next to it if they are never less than 3 metres above the ground or within 2 metres of a building they pass over. That doesn't let it put poles on the neighbouring land, or run lines that interfere with a business there.

Code powers come with conditions, mainly in the Electronic Communications Code (Conditions and Restrictions) Regulations 2003. When we checked legislation.gov.uk on 9 October 2026, it showed no known changes waiting to be made to them. Regulation 3 says a code operator must:

• consult the highway authority about breaking up a maintainable highway, and the planning authority (usually your council) about installing equipment;
• so far as reasonably practicable, minimise the impact on the visual amenity of properties (listed buildings in particular), hazards and interference with traffic;
• share the use of equipment where practicable;
• install the minimum practicable number of items of equipment for its intended services, allowing for growth in demand.

The legal notice goes to the council, not to each household. That gap causes many complaints.

The Cabinet Siting and Pole Siting Code of Practice is a voluntary code agreed by the Planning Officers Society, National Parks England, BT, Virgin Media, the UK Competitive Telecoms Association and Historic England. The version on GOV.UK is Issue 2 from November 2016, and no later version was listed when we checked in October 2026. It says operators should put a site notice as close as possible to a proposed new pole, at the same time as they notify the authorities, giving their name and contact details. A post-mounted notice or mailshot can be agreed instead.

In March 2025 two broadband trade bodies, ISPA and INCA, published best-practice guidance produced by a working group set up at the request of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), and backed by operators including Openreach, CityFibre, Virgin Media O2, Gigaclear and Zzoomm. According to ISPreview's summary, it asks operators to show contact details at least on signage near the planned pole, to consider more active engagement such as direct mail or community meetings, and to tell people about significant changes of location.

Once a pole is up, the law is firmer. Within 3 days of finishing equipment that is 3 metres or more above ground, the operator must attach a legible notice to it giving its name and a UK address where a notice of objection can be sent. Failing to do so is a criminal offence, subject to a defence of having taken all reasonable steps.

If you hear about plans early, note the operator's details from the site notice, ask your council's planning department whether it has received a 28-day notice for your street and set any conditions, and contact the operator before work starts if a planned spot would, say, block your driveway. Our suggestion is to raise it before the pole goes in, while the plan can still change.

The 2016 Code of Practice says poles should:

• preferably go on the public highway, in the footway next to the property boundary rather than at the kerb edge, and at the boundary between two properties;
• be at least 500mm from the kerb where possible;
• not go in a prominent position at a junction or on a bend, and avoid other prominent grass verges or grassed amenity areas unless there's a technical justification;
• never obstruct an existing way into or out of land, such as a driveway;
• avoid sites next to listed buildings and Scheduled Monuments, and not block junction sightlines or street nameplates;
• avoid creating hazards for physically and visually disabled people.

The 2025 guidance, as summarised by ISPreview, adds that poles should be only as tall as necessary and keep obstruction to a minimum, with particular attention to wheelchair users, people with mobility issues and pushchairs. GOV.UK describes the 2016 Code as voluntary, and the 2025 document is industry best-practice guidance, so neither is law in itself. Both still give you a precise standard to quote. "The pole obstructs an existing means of entering my land" is a far stronger complaint than "I don't like where it is".

Besides the regulation 3 duty to share where practicable, Openreach's Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product lets other providers use Openreach's existing ducts and poles; the pole licence lets them attach and maintain their own equipment on existing Openreach poles. Openreach's product page says it offers this as set out in an Ofcom statement of June 2019. Since February 2023 the Code has also included a right to share equipment, and ISPreview notes that the Access to Infrastructure Regulations 2016 provide for access to existing infrastructure on fair and reasonable terms. Our guide to what Openreach is explains its wider role.

In a letter to the telecoms industry dated 16 August 2024, Sir Chris Bryant, the telecoms minister at the time, said he wanted sharing of infrastructure to become the default. He did not then favour removing permitted development rights for poles, but said he would consider changing the rules if a revised Code of Practice failed to cut unnecessary poles. At a round table on 12 September 2024 he welcomed the industry's initiative to revise the Code, and that industry-led work produced the March 2025 ISPA/INCA guidance described above. GOV.UK still listed only the 2016 Code in October 2026.

Because the duty is to share "where practicable", it isn't absolute. If a new pole appears beside an existing one, ask the operator to explain in writing why sharing wasn't practicable.

The 2025 guidance sets out an escalation route, and the law adds formal options. This order usually works best:

1. Contact the operator named on the site notice or pole notice, and ask for its complaints procedure. Both the 2016 Code and the 2025 guidance say operators should give a formal written response with reasons.
2. Go to your council. For problems with the mandatory rules, such as a missing 28-day notice, the guidance says you can go straight to the planning department. For a suspected street works permit breach, contact the streetworks and/or planning team. Councils can escalate specific breaches of code powers to Ofcom or the court.
3. Ask for an overhead line to be moved. Under regulation 4, anyone can ask for a line already above ground to be relocated. The operator must do it unless it decides the request is unreasonable or that you won't pay the cost, and must tell you within 56 days. This covers lines, not poles, and may involve a cost, so ask upfront.
4. Give a formal notice of objection under the Code (below).

The 2025 guidance says providers should consider each request to re-site a new pole that materially harms a resident, including where it affects a disabled person, access to an existing driveway or a dropped kerb with planning approval, development with planning approval, or sits on private land without a wayleave. You'll be expected to provide evidence. "Consider" isn't a promise to move the pole, but a well-evidenced request in one of these categories gives the operator a clear basis, under its own industry's guidance, to act.

A new pole usually means a full fibre network is being built nearby, which can mean more choice, though being built isn't the same as being available at your address. Our guide on how to check full fibre availability explains how to find out what you can get.

When you're ready, the comparison on our fibre broadband deals page shows deals at your postcode through our comparison partner, and our broadband providers page lists every network we cover. We compare deals; we don't switch you, and you order with the provider you choose. If you join a network that builds overhead, your connection may come from a pole: Trooli says Joint User Pole connections need permission first, and Zzoomm surveys pole and duct installations before connecting.