From The Telegraph:
Farmers face a threat to hundreds of millions of pounds in extra income from their land, as mobile operators mount a campaign to slash the rent they pay for mast sites.
A coalition of all four of Britain’s mobile operators – EE, O2, Three and Vodafone – is urging the Government to intervene to give them the similar rights to energy and water companies to build out their networks.
According to a report commissioned by the operators from Deloitte and seen by The Telegraph it could mean the average annual rent for a rural mobile mast plummeting from £7,500 to less than £240. Many farms host more than one mast.
Urban landlords could also take a big hit if the mobile industry gets its way. They charge an average of £9,200. It would mean total savings for the mobile operators of up to £271m, according to Deloitte.
How on earth is that "income from land"?
The value of a mobile phone mast is purely a function of how many people live within its radius. In that sense, that value belongs neither to the agricultural landowners nor the mobile phone companies, does it?
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