Tower fiberisation
Tower Fiberisation Survey for Indus Towers Rooftop Sites
Hundreds of short spurs, each ending in a compound full of earthing and power cables. We survey them as one programme.
Quick AnswerA tower fiberisation survey scans the short route from each tower site to the nearest fibre point, and the compound where the fibre enters. It locates earthing, power cables, water pipes and other ducts so pits and bores avoid them. Priced per metre across the whole programme, it costs a few thousand rupees per site at scale; there is more on telecom operator projects here.
What does a tower fiberisation survey cover?
A tower fiberisation survey covers the underground path from a tower site to the fibre network and the last stretch inside the site compound. It records every buried service on that path with its depth and marks safe positions for the entry pit and any HDD shot. The laying crew then avoids the site's earthing and power supply. The scan is a ground penetrating radar survey: the antenna transmits pulses, and each strip, cable or pipe beneath the ground reflects part of the energy back to the receiver.
Indus Towers Limited became one of India's largest tower companies after its merger with Bharti Infratel in November 2020. Its sites host equipment for several mobile operators. As traffic grows, and especially since 5G services were launched in India on 1 October 2022, more of those sites need optic fibre instead of microwave links. The National Broadband Mission, launched in December 2019, made tower fiberisation one of its stated goals.
Per-site checklist: what we record
| Check | Ground-based tower | Rooftop tower |
|---|---|---|
| Spur from fibre point | Scanned in full, crossings listed | Scanned in full, crossings listed |
| Earthing pits and strips | Traced inside the compound | On the roof in most cases, out of scope |
| Electricity board and generator cables | Traced to meter and DG set | Traced at building frontage |
| Entry point | Proposed pit checked for clashes | Building entry and riser start |
| Other ducts | Existing operators' cables marked | Building's own services at frontage |
| Output | One site sheet (PDF), DWG, KMZ, radargrams | |
Cutting another operator's cable at a shared site is costly and slow to resolve; read our fibre cut penalty in India guide for how such claims are settled.
Why is the tower compound the riskiest part?
Because everything that keeps the site running is buried in a small area. A ground-based tower compound holds the tower foundation and an earthing system of pits and buried strips. It also holds the incoming electricity board cable, the generator and its cables, and the shelter equipment. On a shared site there may be fibre or power cables from more than one tenant.
Damaging the earthing affects lightning protection and equipment safety. Cutting the power cable takes the site off air for every operator on it. Neither is visible from the surface. A GPR and locator scan of the compound, done before the pit is marked, takes less than an hour on most sites. Higher frequencies give the detail needed to separate earth strips from cables.
Rooftop sites move the risk to the building frontage, where the spur meets water tanks, septic tanks, the building's own cable entries and the footpath.
How do we run a circle-wide programme?
By grouping sites into clusters, sending crews cluster by cluster and reporting site by site. Fiberisation is a numbers game: hundreds of sites, each with a spur of a few hundred metres. A programme approach keeps the cost and the timeline under control.
- You share the site list with coordinates, tower type and the planned fibre point for each.
- We group sites into daily clusters by town and road access.
- Each crew scans its cluster's spurs and compounds, with paint marks left at every site.
- Site sheets are uploaded daily, so laying crews can follow a day or two behind.
- A programme tracker shows which sites are surveyed, which are pending and any that need a second visit.
Before scanning a spur, we always confirm a few things, from access to the fibre point. Our article on route survey in Delhi NCR lists what to check first.
How do spur surveys connect to drilling?
Most spurs cross at least one road, and the scan sets where the HDD shot starts and ends. A clear spur sheet tells the drill crew the pit positions and the depth of each crossing service, so the bore profile can be set before the rig arrives. You can read about HDD route survey for the planning steps, or see OFC route GPR survey for the scan method on the spur itself.
Where a spur runs along a soft verge with no crossings, open trenching is often quicker; the site sheet notes that too.
How does terrain change a fiberisation survey?
It changes the pace and the risks more than the method. The scan pattern at each site stays the same; what we expect to find, and how fast a crew moves, varies a great deal across a circle.
- Dense city cores. Short spurs but crowded footpaths, shop fronts and parked vehicles. Crews cover fewer sites a day, and most spurs need HDD.
- Suburbs and small towns. Longer spurs on open verges, with newer water pipes and fewer old ducts. Progress is quickest here.
- Highway and rural sites. Long spurs along road shoulders, with culverts and field irrigation lines as the main crossings.
- Hilly ground. Rock close to the surface and retaining walls along the road edge. The scan shows where trench depth will be limited.
- Flood-prone and coastal areas. Wet or saline soil has high electrical conductivity and reduces radar depth. We tighten the line spacing and recommend trial pits at key crossings.
We plan crew numbers per cluster from these soil conditions and access, which keeps the daily site count realistic.
What does a fiberisation programme cost?
The whole programme is priced on total metres: ₹24 per metre for standard scanning and ₹32 for L-section, plus GST. Whole-order discounts apply at 25% above 100 km, 40% above 500 km and 50% above 1,000 km. The minimum order is ₹50,000 in Delhi NCR and ₹1,00,000 elsewhere.
Take 300 sites with spurs averaging 350 m. That is 105 km, which crosses the 100 km slab, so the rate becomes ₹18 per metre. The order totals 1,05,000 × ₹18 = ₹18,90,000 plus GST, or ₹6,300 per site. A single site on its own would hit the minimum order, which is why programmes are batched.
Who do we work for on fiberisation?
For Indus Towers Limited on direct orders, and for the fiberisation contractors and network rollout teams who build the spurs. Company names on this page are used only to describe the type of work; all trademarks belong to their owners.
Our crews are company staff and every GPR system is company-owned, so a large programme does not depend on hired equipment. Send your site list, or book a site visit for a pilot cluster first.
Frequently asked questions
How long does each site take?
A typical spur and compound scan takes one to two hours on site, depending on spur length and access. Data collection and the site sheet follow.
Do you need the site to be shut down?
No. GPR and cable locating are passive and do not affect equipment. We follow the site's access and safety rules.
Can we start with a pilot?
Yes. Many programmes begin with one cluster of 10–20 sites to agree the format of the site sheet.
How is a programme priced if the site list grows?
Additional sites are added to the order, and if the total crosses a slab the discount applies to the whole order. See GPR survey rates at a glance.
Do you survey rooftops?
No. Our work is underground; we cover the spur and the building frontage up to the entry, as part of the site's underground utility mapping.
What about sites in rocky terrain?
GPR works in rock and often reads well, but shallow rock limits trench depth. The site sheet notes where rock lies close to the surface.
Get a written quote for your fiberisation programme
Written by Saniya Parveen · Technically reviewed by Rahul Rai · Updated 8 November 2026