Four organisations are teaming up to lay overhead cables underground along 116 routes in Bangkok and the provinces this year, covering a combined length of 213 kilometres.
The plan also includes rearranging overhead cables in Bangkok and the provinces along 1,407 routes, covering a combined length of 2,498km.
The task of laying cables underground set to take place this year along 116 routes was originally scheduled to take place last year.
The four organisations joining forces to carry out this task are the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA), the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, which will work with the private operators who own the telecom and broadcasting cables.
Management representatives from the four parties recently discussed this year's plan, settling on the operation cost for each party in order to avoid further delays.
In principle, NBTC will subsidise the cost of the removal of the cables, while the MEA and PEA will provide financial support for some parts of the equipment involved in the removal process.
State telecom enterprise National Telecom (NT) owns conduits along 4,360km of roads nationwide, of which around 3,500km are in Bangkok, with the remainder located in the provinces. NT agreed to reconsider a new rental rate to attract telecom operators to rent its conduits over the long term.
According to a previous plan pertaining to 2023, the parties planned to lay the cables underground on 158 routes covering a total length of 267km, including 56 routes in Bangkok covering 126km and 102 routes in the provinces covering a distance of 141km.
However, last year cables were laid underground on only three routes in Bangkok, covering 7.4km, and 39 routes in the provinces, covering 47km.
As a result, the work that was not completed last year, comprising 116 routes, covering a distance of 213km, made up of 53 routes in Bangkok and 63 routes in the provinces, would be carried out this year.
In the previous plan for rearranging existing overhead cables covering operations in both 2023 and 2024, the organisations planned to rearrange the cables along 1,594 routes, covering a distance of 3,047km.
Of the total routes referred to in this plan, 970 routes are in the provinces, 542 routes are in densely populated areas of Bangkok, and 82 routes are located in other areas of Bangkok and adjacent areas.
However, the work carried out in 2023 only managed to cover 187 routes with a combined length of 548km, of which 145 routes are in the provinces, 12 routes in densely populated areas of Bangkok, and 30 routes in other areas in Bangkok.
As a result, the organisations involved have to pursue the outstanding target of 1,407 routes, covering a distance of 2,498km this year.
A telecom industry source who requested anonymity said the previous government was serious in both laying overhead cables underground and rearranging overhead cables to improve the appearance of the country's cities and provinces.
However, the effort failed to meet the targets set as the result of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and uncertainty regarding the political transition, the source noted.
Between 2018 and 2023, the organisations involved in the task managed to rearrange overhead cables along 290 routes covering a distance of 1,606km in Bangkok and adjacent areas, and along 8,168 routes covering a distance of 16,844km in the provinces.
Meanwhile, between 2017 and 2023, they laid overhead cables underground on 129 routes both in Bangkok and the provinces covering a combined length of 183km.