Section 80: Electronic communications apparatus
261.This section removes the obligation for an operator to apply to the Secretary of State for a licence under the Electronic Communications Code (“the Code”), as set out in Schedule 2 to the Telecommunications Act 1984. The carrying on of activities in connection with submarine cable-laying or the removing of any submarine cable is licensable under the marine licensing regime established by Part 4 of the Act instead.
262.The licensing authority must not grant a licence for an activity that amounts to or involves the exercise of a right conferred by paragraph 11 of the Code unless it is satisfied that adequate compensation arrangements have been made for loss or damage suffered in consequence of that activity.
263.This in no other way affects the rights granted to operators by other parts of the Code.