Draft Report - Review of rental arrangements for communication towers on Crown land - April 2013

In October 2012, the NSW Government asked IPART to conduct a review and make recommendations on rental arrangements for communication infrastructure and equipment located on Crown land. We released an Issues Paper in December 2012, seeking stakeholders’ views on the many aspects of the rental arrangement, including the separation of strategic sites or high value sites from a published fee schedule that would cover the majority of other sites. We also sought comments on specific elements of the fee schedule such as the definition of location and user categories, and treatment of different types of occupancies. Stakeholders expressed divergent views on almost all issues. IPART’s task is to form a view on a rental arrangement that is market reflective, administratively efficient and transparent. This report outlines our draft recommendations, taking into account the market evidence on rentals for communication towers, stakeholders’ views and our own analysis.