Fibre Cut Penalty in India: Who Pays and How to Avoid It

Updated: 28 October 2026

What is a fibre cut?

A fibre cut (also written fiber cut) is any break in a fiber optic cable that stops light, and therefore data, from passing. An OFC cable cut on a busy route can take down mobile towers, high speed broadband, bank links and government services across a district until the cable operator splices the fibres and restores the optic connections.

Fibre cables can also fail because of rodents, extreme weather and natural disasters, and aerial cable runs suffer in storms and other harsh weather conditions. Unlike the undersea cables that make international news, however, most cable cuts in India happen on land, during excavation: road widening, pipe laying, or an HDD bore that strays into a duct.

What is the penalty for damaging an OFC cable in India?

The Telecommunications Act, 2023 replaced the Indian Telegraph Act and set clear penalties for damaging a communications network. Section 42 has two tiers:

• Any telecom network – an operator's fibre route, tower feeder or FTTH duct. Under Section 42(5), the person responsible must pay compensation for the damage and a fine of up to ₹50 lakh.
• Critical telecommunication infrastructure – networks notified as critical by the Central Government. Under Section 42(1), damage is punishable with imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to ₹2 crore, or both.

A contractor cannot tell from the surface whether a duct is ordinary or critical, so every fibre route should be treated as if the higher penalty applies.

What must you do before digging near telecom cables?

The Indian Telegraph (Infrastructure Safety) Rules, 2022, notified by the Department of Telecommunications in January 2023, require anyone planning to dig near telecom assets to:

1. Give notice to the cable operators through the common portal at least one month before work starts.
2. Follow the precautions they request, such as hand digging near a route.
3. Pay restoration charges if cable damage still occurs.

The common portal is the Call Before u Dig (CBuD) app; our Call Before You Dig guide explains how to register a dig. As these rules were framed under the earlier Telegraph Act, check the DoT website for any newer rules issued under the 2023 Act.

Who pays when a fibre cable is cut?

Liability rests with the party whose work caused the damage. On most projects the operator pursues the excavation contractor first; the main EPC contractor is often named as well and recovers the cost from its sub-contractor. The project owner rarely pays directly, but its programme is delayed while the site is stopped.

The cost is seldom a single splice. One city duct can carry fiber cables for several operators, each with its own restoration claim. Official estimates published with the safety rules put India's fibre cuts at close to 10 lakh a year, with losses near ₹3,000 crore annually.

Why are fibre ducts missed before digging?

Fibre routes in Indian cities rarely match their drawings. Roads are widened, new ducts are laid beside old ones, and abandoned routes remain in the ground. A conventional cable locator follows metal or a tracer wire, so a plastic HDPE duct carrying dielectric fibre can be invisible to it; our comparison of EM locators and GPR explains the gap. Because the 2023 Act places liability on whoever causes the damage, the excavator carries the risk of anything it did not check.

How does a GPR survey prevent a fibre cut?

Ground penetrating radar sends short pulses into the ground and records reflections from buried objects, whether metal, plastic or concrete. A survey along the trench line and across every crossing provides:

• Marked positions for every duct and cable on the alignment.
• Approximate depths, so the trench or HDD bore can pass safely.
• Unregistered and abandoned lines that no owner reports on CBuD.
• A dated report of radargrams, drawings and photos as evidence of due care.

Radar range drops in wet clay and saline soil, so a good report flags lower-confidence areas and recommends trial pits there. See our OFC route GPR survey, the survey deliverables and the price list; scanning starts at ₹24 per metre, GST extra, with a 4 km minimum.

This page is general information, not legal advice. For a specific incident, consult the Act and the notified rules, or a lawyer.

Sources

• The Telecommunications Act, 2023 (No. 44 of 2023) – Section 42(1) and Section 42(5).
• Indian Telegraph (Infrastructure Safety) Rules, 2022 – Gazette notification G.S.R. 06(E), 3 January 2023.
• Delhi PWD circular (March 2023) applying the Infrastructure Safety Rules and Call Before u Dig to excavation work orders
• Mezux Touch survey records and published rate card (October 2026).