What is changing in IMDA's 2026 COPIF review, and does it affect in-building radio coverage obligations for building owners?

IMDA's 2026 review of the Code of Practice for Info-communication Facilities in Buildings (COPIF) is about mobile and fixed-line telecom infrastructure — where operators put base stations, how risers reach basement carparks, and how resilient vital-service buildings must be. It does not introduce a new emergency-responder two-way radio coverage mandate, and it does not change the way private in-building radio systems are designed or tested. If you own or manage a building in Singapore, your two-way radio coverage obligations continue to flow from COPIF's existing space-and-facilities duties, the SCDF Fire Code, and accepted engineering practice — not from the 2026 amendments.

What is COPIF, and who does it bind?

COPIF first took effect on 15 September 2000 and was last reviewed in 2018. It binds building developers and owners (BOs) and telecommunication licensees. Its core purpose is to make BOs provide adequate space and facilities — risers, equipment rooms, cable trays, rooftop and installation space — so that info-communication services can be deployed and maintained in and around the building. COPIF is a facilities and access code first and foremost. It sets out who must provide space, who maintains it, and who bears cost; it is not, and has never been, a radio-frequency coverage specification with a delivered signal level you test against.

What is IMDA actually changing in the 2026 COPIF review?

IMDA issued the consultation on 18 March 2026 and closed it at noon on 18 May 2026. The proposed amendments are aimed squarely at mobile network deployment, fixed broadband cabling, and network resilience. The substantive changes are:

• Mobile installation space (MIS) locations to be pre-determined and designed into new developments, with telecom risers extended to first-basement carparks and cable trays installed there for faster operator fit-out.

• The MIS framework extended to street lampposts, with lamppost owners and adjacent landowners required to facilitate mobile deployment at no rental charge.

• Automatic re-designation of an MIS to the incoming BO on property transfer, and after an MIS agreement expires, unless the parties agree otherwise or IMDA decides otherwise.

• BOs allowed to recover rooftop-access administration costs (security, escort), with IMDA considering benchmarked rates, plus a sample MIS agreement template.

• Operators to engage a structural professional engineer, at their own cost, to certify that rooftop mobile deployments are structurally safe before works begin.

• Buildings classed as "special development" or "special infrastructure" under the Infrastructure Protection Act 2017 to meet the resilience requirements that already apply to vital-service buildings — separate telecom space and facilities at a separate location.

• Consultation questions on cabling standards for fixed broadband above 10 Gbps, reduced facilities for single-user buildings, and lead-in pipe ownership arrangements.

None of these items sets or revises a two-way radio coverage grade.

Does the 2026 COPIF review change my two-way radio or emergency-responder coverage obligations?

No — not directly. The review targets mobile-network and fixed-line infrastructure, so it changes what space and facilities you must give telecom operators, not the performance of a private radio or emergency-responder system inside your building. If your building relies on two-way radio for security, facilities, or SCDF responder communications, the design targets and test regime are unchanged by these amendments. In practice a compliant in-building radio system is still engineered to deliver a reliable signal — around −95 dBm delivered level at the portable for usable voice, with a 10 dB fade margin on standard commercial work and 15 dB where the system is treated as mission-critical — and is still proved with a grid coverage survey rather than a COPIF facilities checklist.

Where do in-building two-way radio coverage duties actually come from?

They sit across three layers, and the 2026 review touches only the first. COPIF gives responders and systems the space and riser access to exist. The SCDF Fire Code and its supporting requirements drive the case for emergency-responder radio coverage in the building. Engineering practice — link-budget design, antenna and coupler layout, and a pass/fail grid survey — determines whether coverage is actually delivered floor by floor. A building owner who reads only the COPIF amendments will see nothing about coverage percentages or dBm thresholds, because those live in the design and fire-safety layers, not in the facilities code. For the fire-safety and testing picture, see our explainers on SCDF/IMDA in-building radio coverage requirements and how in-building two-way radio coverage is measured and passed.

What should a building owner do now?

Treat the 2026 COPIF changes as a facilities-and-access exercise: check that your development's MIS, risers, basement cable trays, and rooftop access arrangements match the incoming rules, and review MIS agreement and transfer clauses on any property changing hands. Then treat radio coverage as a separate, ongoing engineering obligation: if security or responder radios have dead zones in stairwells, lift cars, basement carparks or shielded rooms, that is a coverage design issue to survey and fix regardless of the COPIF review. The two workstreams are governed by different rules and should not be conflated.

Related questions

Does the 2026 COPIF review add an SCDF emergency-responder radio coverage certificate? No. The review does not create a new radio-coverage certificate. Emergency-responder coverage requirements and testing continue to sit under the Fire Code and design practice, proven by a grid survey, not by the COPIF amendments.

When does the 2026 COPIF review take effect? The consultation closed on 18 May 2026; the amendments take effect only once IMDA finalises and publishes the revised code. Until then, the 2018 COPIF remains the operative version — confirm the current status on the IMDA website before relying on any proposed clause.

Do the new MIS rules mean my building will get better walkie-talkie coverage? Not on their own. Better MIS and riser provisioning helps mobile-operator equipment, not your private UHF two-way radio system. Improving walkie-talkie coverage still needs a dedicated repeater or DAS designed for your floor plate and construction.

Suneast designs, installs and tests in-building two-way radio coverage systems for Singapore buildings, working to the SCDF Fire Code case and to engineering targets — a −95 dBm delivered level with a 10–15 dB fade margin — proven by a grid coverage survey. We keep the COPIF facilities question and the radio-coverage engineering question separate, so building owners know exactly which obligation each requirement falls under and get a system that passes on test rather than one that merely ticks a facilities box.