Everything that has anything to do with laying, removing or relocating telecommunications cables in the ground or in buildings is regulated in the Telecommunications Act. It represents limitations on ownership rights. In most cases landowners (all of them: municipalities, businesses and private individuals) have a duty to allow telecommunications cables to be laid on their land. This is referred to as a mandatory wayleave . Those service providers whose networks include such cables have a so-called wayleave.
Nuisance occasioned by cables
An owner is entitled to the undisrupted enjoyment of his land. Any cables which are laid in the earth or are installed in a building may therefore not disrupt his enjoyment. This means that cables may sometimes need to be relocated if construction occurs. The following are examples of this:
- should a municipality wish to build a road on its land, a service provider will have to relocate or remove his cables if they are in the way;
- where cables located in the ground pose an obstacle to the renovation of a house, the relevant service provider will usually have to relocate or remove them.
Laying cables
Cables have to be laid in consultation 
ConsultationIn a consultation document OPTA sets out its opinion, any decision that it is planning to make, or any issues which are current in relation to important telecommunications or postal matters. The parties affected are afforded the opportunity to respond in writing. A hearing is also always held, in which the various market parties can express their views in person. In response to a consultation OPTA may draft policy rules, for example. In them it explains how it will act as the case may be and how it will interpret specific provisions of the law.
. A service provider first needs to provide information about the planned installation of such cables. The landowner concerned may then enter into negotiations with that service provider concerning the proposed time, place and method of installation. Should such consultation fail to elicit agreement, OPTA may adjudicate the dispute. Until it rules on that dispute, the service provider may not lay any cables. In addition, where a landowner and a service provider are unable to reach agreement as to who should bear the costs involved in relocating any cables, they may ask OPTA to rule on the matter.
The regulations with which the relevant parties are required to comply when laying and relocating cables are stipulated in Chapter 5 of the Telecommunications Act. OPTA has set out how it will deal with those provisions of the Telecommunications Act in the form of policy rules.
If you have any questions, please e-mail gedogen@opta.nl