Manchester data centre's new operator needed fresh Ofcom powers

The Data Centre Stayed Put. Its New Operator Needed Fresh Powers.

Why it matters

AtlasEdge's Manchester MAN001 site already had an operator with statutory rights to lay network infrastructure. The group plans to put a new company in that seat. Ofcom's 2 November decision shows why the name on the operating paperwork matters as much as the building.

Daniel Kade3 November 2026 at 05:51 UTCReading Time 2 minLast update: 3 November 2026

Ofcom granted Code powers to the planned new operator of AtlasEdge’s MAN001 data centre. Conceptual illustration.

Summary

Ofcom granted AE Technology Services IV UK Limited nationwide Electronic Communications Code powers on 2 November 2026. Its direction took effect on publication; the consultation drew no representations.
AtlasEdge plans to make that company the operator of its Manchester MAN001 data centre. The current operator, AE Technology Services 1 UK Limited, already holds Code powers. The new operating company needed its own grant.

The Manchester data centre did not grow legs. Its planned operating company changed, and the legal right to build the fibres that connect it had to be granted again. Ofcom's final direction, signed on 2 November, applies the Electronic Communications Code to AE Technology Services IV UK Limited throughout the United Kingdom. It is effective from publication. A permission written against a company does not ride automatically with a building.

Ofcom's September consultation supplies the corporate mechanics. AtlasEdge intended the new company to operate MAN001 in Manchester. AE Technology Services 1 UK Limited was operating the site and already had Code powers. The applicant wanted to maintain and extend fibre between AtlasEdge data centres, network edge locations and local access interconnection points across Britain. Same facility, another legal person, another decision from the regulator.

The Code matters outside the server hall. It lets an authorised operator install and maintain communications apparatus on public highways without obtaining a separate street works licence for that right. Certain works can qualify as permitted development. When private land negotiations fail, the operator may ask a court to impose an agreement. These powers affect ducts, cabinets and the route to customers. Ofcom's case page identifies the final direction alongside the consultation.

The applicant said it needed public highway access, a route through difficult private land negotiations and parity with other Code operators. Ofcom judged operation and expansion impracticable without the grant. A director promised to ensure funds for liabilities and provide a certificate if required. The regulator received the completed application on 8 July, consulted from 16 September to 16 October, received zero representations and signed the direction on 2 November. That is a clean administrative path for a power with material effects on land and network expansion.