The Telangana high court has expressed anguish over the growing menace of hanging cables on electricity poles, noting that such hazards have caused multiple fatalities in the state. The court directed that all unauthorised cables strung across electricity poles be removed immediately, except those installed with due permissions and for which rentals have been paid.
The observations came during the hearing of a writ petition filed by Bharti Airtel Limited, which challenged the arbitrary removal of its optical fibre cables by the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TGSPDCL). Airtel’s counsel submitted that the company had obtained the necessary approvals under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, and the Telecommunications (Right of Way) (RoW) rules, 2024, and had paid nearly Rs 0.21 billion towards pole rentals since 2021. Despite this, TGSPDCL allegedly removed its cables without notice, in violation of Rule 18 of the RoW rules, thereby disrupting telecom services to lakhs of subscribers, including hospitals, courts, and major businesses.
The court noted that arbitrary disruption of telecom infrastructure has serious public consequences and observed that even the central government had advised state authorities to avoid such actions.
