Ofcom encourages mobile network operators to share masts and/or sites where possible, in order to minimise the environmental impact of networks and Operators may enter into site-sharing agreements where that is an attractive commercial option. However, limitations on site sharing include:
Technology: In some cases, transmission frequencies from co-located antennae might interfere with each other;
Coverage: A particular location may give good coverage for one operator, but not another;
Visual impact: Site-sharing necessitates more than one antenna on a mast (or a cluster of masts), and, often, an increase in the height of the structure. This can be visually obtrusive, and may not be what the local community wants to see.
An MOA fact sheet is available at Mast and Site Sharing.
Ofcom requires applicants wishing to apply for Electronic Communications Code powers to illustrate that they are willing to share their apparatus with other providers of electronic communications networks. If a dispute was referred to Ofcom by a communications provider seeking to mast share, each such referral to Ofcom would be considered on a case by case basis. If Ofcom concluded that mast sharing was technically feasible and/or was being refused by the communications provider (mast owner), it could exercise its powers to require mast sharing.
A number of major networks have entered into agreements to share their radio access networks in order to provide wider coverage to customers and to reduce costs. In some areas this may lead to the decommissioning of sites where individual network coverage overlaps.
March 2011