HYDERABAD: The Telangana Cable TV Internet & Telecom Service Providers Welfare Association (TGCIT) has accused the state’s power utility of indiscriminate cable cutting, causing severe disruption to daily life and business across Telangana.
For nearly 20 days, lakhs of households and businesses have faced outages in cable TV, internet and telecom services after the Telangana Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TGSPDCL) allegedly cut lines without prior notice.
The TGCIT said service providers, who contribute hundreds of crores annually to state and central revenues through GST and other taxes, have already paid for pole usage or are in the process of securing permissions. Despite compliance and joint “cable structuring” efforts, operators said cables were snapped even during major events like the Miss World pageant in Hyderabad.
The association proposed a long-term solution: bundling and securing existing overhead cables, followed by rolling out shared high-capacity fibre infrastructure with government approval. It warned that continued disruption could damage Hyderabad’s image and threaten the livelihoods of thousands of workers.
TGCIT urged the government to immediately stop unauthorised cable cuts and clear its proposed fibre plan.
HC extends interim relief in Airtel case
The Telangana High Court on Monday (September 8) extended its earlier interim order in Bharti Airtel’s plea, which allowed the power department to remove cables laid without permission. Airtel argued that permissions had been obtained. The court directed Airtel to appoint an officer to identify its cables and listed the case for October 30 for the union government’s counter.