Bescom dismantles over 7,000 km of cables on Bengaluru infrastructure

Bescom and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are currently taking action to remove illegally laid OFCs. |Photo credit: Archive photo

Since August 2023, Bengaluru Electric Supply Company (Bescom) has dismantled a total of 7,175.48 km of optical fiber cables (OFC) and data cables out of a total length of 9,250.25 km of optical fiber cables (OFC) and data cables in Bengaluru’s power infrastructure.

Bescom and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are currently taking action to remove illegally laid OFCs. Even within the cables running through the power infrastructure, OFCs have a larger share. The length of such OFCs is approximately 4,714 km, of which more than 3,994 km have been removed.

Apart from this, over 2,989 km of dish cables were discovered and over 1,843 km of dish cables were removed, while over 1,336 km of data cables were removed out of the 1,546 km of cables identified.

Bescom started the campaign in August 2023 after a 21-year-old Christ University student was severely burned in a freak accident. The pole broke and a live wire fell on her. Bescom subsequently ordered the removal of all cables passing through its power infrastructure.

“We had removed these cables after the power incident last year. We are continuing efforts to remove all of them,” a senior Bescom official said.

UG pipeline to be leased to OFC

Bescom provides a partial solution to the OFC menace by leasing its underground (UG) pipelines to telecom service providers (TSPs) to lay OFCs. Two companies, Airtel and Honeycomb, have also reportedly expressed interest, following recent calls for expressions of interest from power companies.

Bescom is currently finalizing rent. “We are working on the rates and once we get approval from the board, we will go ahead with it. We will have 24 or 48 feet ducts. Depending on the size, many cables can be accommodated in it. A senior Bescom official said the rental will be on a per per Meters or kilometers of cable fixed.

In the Bangalore Metropolitan Area (BMAZ), approximately 6,000 km of pipeline space is available for lease to service providers. Bescom also sees this as a way to increase its alternative revenue sources (non-tariff revenue).