Quintel S4, a joint venture between QinetiQ, the former government Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, and Rotch Property, a private property and investment group, has been appointed as the Church’s approved installer of mobile telecoms masts in church spires.

The decision on whether or not to install masts will rest with individual vicars. However, Quintel will get direct access to at least 5,000 churches which have already welcomed the deal. Its implementation is expected to prove lucrative for cash-strapped parish churches.

Quintel will pay up to £10,000 a year per mast in rent. The company will, in turn, charge telecom providers a fee to access the equipment.

Pressure groups, including Mast UK, which was set up in 2000 to campaign for better regulation of masts and raise public awareness about perceived health risks, are opposed to the move.

A spokesman for Mast UK said the move would encourage churches with squeezed resources to opt for easy cash, without considering fully the divisive effects of masts on communities.

Graeme Ferrero, chief executive of Quintel, said the joint venture company would use new technology that would allow each antenna simultaneously to receive and transmit all five 3G operators’ radio signals, saving costs and helping to reduce public health concerns.

Although the current moves are causing controversy, telecoms masts have been installed in some church spires for several years, well before public health fears first surfaced.

Steven Wikner, bursar at Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, which has installed telecoms masts, said: “In a location like this we are by far the highest point for miles so it makes sense.

“It does provide useful revenue, but we do not just have mobile phone masts, we have a whole range of telecommunications services including police and ambulance services.”

The Church of England said the move to find a single national preferred provider of telecoms masts was driven by a desire to help give guidance to churches who were being bombarded with requests from individual operators and found it hard to negotiate deals.

Richard Hopgood, Acting Secretary-General for the Archbishop’s Council of the Church of England and head of the telecommunications working party, said: “Hosting aerials in spires and towers can prevent a proliferation of unsightly masts.”

He added that, to the observer on the ground the aerials will not be visible and it is only from above that aerials can be detected.

The Church said in a statement: “If this improves the quality of transmission it can be a boon to the community. If it prevents the need for masts elsewhere the environment is spared.”

The move provides Rotch Property with an unlikely partner in the Church of England. The group is run by the brothers Robbie and Vincent Tchenguiz, renowned for their lavish playboy lifestyle.

The group came into the spotlight recently for the £328 million purchase of Shell-Mex House, the UK’s biggest single property sale.