The OFC threat in Bengaluru remains as the new GBA regulations remain in place

Overhanging and low-hanging optical fiber cables (OFCs) continue to pose a menace to pedestrians and motorists in Bengaluru, even as new regulations to tighten road use regulations for OFCs await consideration by the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).

A fact-finding conducted by The Hindu shows that even busy stretches in the city like Hosur Road, Mysore Road, Indiranagar 100 Feet Road, Brigade Road, Bannerghatta Road and Koramangala 80 Feet Road (Ganesh Temple) have cables hanging low, tied to trees, snapped and lying on footpaths and roads.

For example, the JNC road in Koramangala is one of the busiest stretches on all days and an increased crowd is seen on weekends. The private college located on the stretch is key, with hundreds of students using it every day. In addition, several restaurants in the adjacent street bring thousands of people to the locality.

Aarti, a student of a private college, said cracked OFCs are a common sight on the stretch and such a situation, coupled with haphazard parking along the stretch, makes it impossible for pedestrians to walk, especially during rush hours.

“There is a serious parking problem on this stretch which has not been resolved. Hundreds of students go to the bus stand near Hosur Road and the entire road, which is about 600 meters long, is flooded with such cables,” she said.

Connectivity issues

Pravar Choudhary, an architect, pointed out that stretches with wider footpaths like the Indiranagar 100 Feet Road are also covered with bundles of cables, creating safety issues. “If barriers like OFCs are removed, more people will start accessing footpaths,” he said.

Several daily commuters who have access to public transport said such barriers affect first- and last-mile connections, leading to increased vehicles on the road and congestion. Although this is a persistent problem that contributes to faulty pedestrian infrastructure, the civic body has failed to strictly enforce the rules and curb illegal OFC connections.

Previous enforcement

According to data from the former Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), between 2012 and 2025, aggregators have set up more than 15,000 km of OFC lines in the city. From 2023, OFC authorizations were suspended until mid-2025. However, 150 km of OFC lines were created illegally by aggregators.

Meanwhile, the data also shows that the civic body imposed fines in only 118 cases for violations of OFC rules between 2017 and 2022. A senior GBA official said that since the permits were temporarily suspended, the civic body did not impose fines thereafter. However, according to other sources, there was not much vigilance and illegal connections were established despite the blanket ban.

A city corporation commissioner told The Hindu that the subject of OFC is still centralized and managed at the GBA level, leaving little room for corporations to fully enforce the rules. “In order to disconnect and remove illegal connections, country-level data is not available. Without detailed information, we cannot clear illegal OFC lines,” he said, stressing that it will disrupt internet services.

Another officer said that many telecom aggregators are moving to underground channels, but there is also litigation related to the move, and once that is cleared up, enforcement of OFC’s underground mandate will be relatively easy. “Many aggregators were not on board and were paying separate charges to move to underground channels, and that escalated,” he said.

A GBA officer explained that to address OFC issues, bylaws were drafted earlier this year to tighten regulations by specifying requirements for cable laying, structures that can be used and the length of cables. “The draft constitution has been proposed twice, but it is not moving yet. It has to be discussed in the executive committee meeting, but the topic has not come up yet,” the officer said.

He continues to haunt people

The OFC menace is still unresolved even as the city corporations have started clearing pavements.

Dhruv NK, a civic activist from South Bengaluru, said that pedestrian infrastructure is a complex issue with many factors, with OFCs being the main problem. “GBA’s initiative to improve pedestrian infrastructure is limited to clearing street vendors and fails to cover other contributing aspects like OFCs, broken footpaths and unslabbed drains. Acting on easy targets and not addressing other issues defeats the purpose,” he said.

Clement Jayakumar of the Mahadevapura Task Force added that GBA should at least focus on cleaning cables hanging lower than 10 meters. “There is also a problem with the design when it comes to connecting multiple lines. With the bylaws, the design needs to be redrawn to create multiple connections from one common point,” he said, adding that the issue of low-hanging wires would also be addressed.

Published – 20 Sep 2026 19:10 IST