The two major operators of radio masts and towers in the UK are Arqiva and National Grid Wireless. Masts of the Rugby VLF transmitter in England Radio masts and towers are, typically, tall structures designed to support antennas (also known as aerials in the UK) for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. ... Arqiva is the new name for NTLs broadcast division, after it was sold to a consortium led by Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group. ... National Grid Wireless (formerly Crown Castle UK) is a company which provides telecommunications infrastructure and broadcast transmission facilities in the UK. Its main customers are broadcasters and mobile phone network operators, and its main asset is a network of over 1,000 radio masts and towers. ...

Between them, these two companies operate the transmitters for UK terrestrial TV and most radio broadcasting, both analog and digital. Braun HF 1, Germany, 1958 Television is a telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance. ...

BT also operates a number of telecommunications towers in the UK. At one time these were used as the backbone for a national line-of-sight microwave telecommunications network. One of the most famous of these is the BT Tower in London. However, the introduction of fibre optic network technology rendered these microwave towers largely obsolete for their original purpose. Nowadays they tend to be used mainly for relatively low capacity fixed links to customer sites and cell sites. BT Group plc (which trades as just BT, and is commonly known by its former name, British Telecom) is the privatised former British state telecommunications operator. ... {{otheruses4|the radiation|the appliance|microwaves equency = 1 GHz) to 1 mm (300 GHz). ... For other BT Towers, see BT Tower (disambiguation). ... Fiber Optic strands An optical fiber in American English or fibre in British English is a transparent thin fiber for transmitting light. ...

Below the level of the major telecommunications towers, cellphone operators run roughly 23,000 base stations. In urban areas, these are almost all rooftop sites or microcells, but in rural areas these are often on masts, frequently owned by one of BT, Arqiva or Crown Castle (Now National Grid Wireless). Cellular redirects here. ... Two GSM mobile phone base stations disguised as trees in Dublin, Ireland. ... Microcell Telecommunications is a Canadian wireless PCS telecommunications service provider. ...

There are also numerous military communications sites in the UK, operated by various wings of the armed forces. Many of the masts and towers at military sites are now marketed to commercial site sharers by Arqiva.

History

The first UK microwave relay towers were built in about 1952 for a television link between Manchester and Kirk o'Shotts near Glasgow. A chain of 14 towers, known as "backbone", running from the Chilterns to Scotland and intended primarily for national defence in the Cold War, was first mentioned publicly in the 1955 Defence White Paper. It announced "The Post Office are planning to build up a special network, both by cable and radio, designed to maintain long distance communication in the event of an attack". It wasn't actually built until the early 1960s, by which time the original Backbone concept had become absorbed into a much larger microwave network built for a mixture of civil and defence traffic including voice, telegraphy, television and radar. The Kirk oShotts transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications site between Glasgow and Edinburgh in central Scotland. ... For other uses, please see Cold War (disambiguation). ...

See also

• Telecommunications in the United Kingdom
• BT Tower (disambiguation)
• BT site engineering code
• Radio masts and towers

// Introduction and history Until 1982, the main civil telecommunications system in the UK was a state monopoly known as Post Office Telecommunications. ... There are several BT Towers in England: The BT Tower in London, the most famous The BT Tower in Birmingham The BT Tower on Cannock Chase, Staffordshire This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... A BT site engineering code is a group of letters assigned by BT, or its predecessor the General Post Office, to a physical location which is equipped by the company with unusual amounts or types of telecommunications. ... Masts of the Rugby VLF transmitter in England Radio masts and towers are, typically, tall structures designed to support antennas (also known as aerials in the UK) for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. ...

External links

• National Grid Wireless
• Arqiva
• NTL Wireless Solutions
• Sitefinder: UK mobile phone base station database
• The Towers of Backbone