Fibre Route Survey – Vodafone Idea (Vi) Sites and Spurs

What does a fibre route survey for Vodafone Idea backhaul involve?

It is a ground scan of the path from a mobile site to the nearest fibre point of presence. It shows the services already buried on that path, gives their depth, and lets the contractor fix pits and bore profiles before the rig arrives. The scan is a ground penetrating radar survey. Radar pulses from the antenna reflect off each pipe or cable beneath the ground, and the receiving antenna turns those echoes into a profile the engineer reads on site.

Vodafone Idea Limited was formed in August 2018 by merging Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, and took the Vi brand in September 2020. Like every mobile operator, it needs fibre to more of its sites as data traffic grows and as it adds 5G, which it began offering commercially in 2025. Many sites still run on microwave links. Moving them to optic fibre means hundreds of short underground spurs, each a small civil job with its own crossings.

Why are backhaul spurs harder than they look?

Because a short route has little room to move. A 400 m spur from a rooftop site to a main-road node runs along one lane, crosses one or two side roads and ends at a building entry. If a water main sits exactly where the entry pit must go, there is often no easy alternative.

Spurs also cross more kinds of ground than a long route: private compounds, market lanes, open drains, sometimes a railway or canal culvert. Each change of surface changes how the radar behaves and what is likely to be buried there. A clear survey at this stage avoids a stalled job with the site still on microwave.

What do we check on each spur before scanning?

1. Start and end points. The tower base or rooftop entry, and the handhole or node at the other end.
2. Ownership of the path. Public road, private plot or society land. It decides whose permission covers the work.
3. Planned method. HDD, open cut or a mix, since that sets the scan density.
4. Existing records. Any drawings from the water board, power utility or earlier fibre builds, even rough ones.
5. Working window. Day or night, and any shop or traffic hours to avoid.

With this in hand, one crew can complete several spurs a day in the same town. That is how batching keeps the cost per site low.

Typical backhaul spur: what we record

The spur sheet is designed for the drill operator. Our fibre cut article lays out the costs and the common mistakes to avoid when another network's cable is damaged.

Drill or dig: how does the survey help decide?

The crossing count and surface type settle it in most cases. Where a spur crosses three or more services under a concrete road, HDD saves restoration work and avoids hitting them from above. Where the path is mostly soft verge with few services, an open trench can be quicker and cheaper.

When drilling is the choice, the same scan feeds the bore plan; see what we do: HDD route survey. City spurs have their own constraints of permission and traffic, which are covered in a short guide on OFC route survey in Delhi NCR. For the full field method, there is more on OFC route GPR survey on our service page.

Where do backhaul spurs run into trouble?

At the two ends, more than in the middle. The middle of a spur is often a plain lane; the ends are where services bunch together.

• Tower base. Ground-based sites have earthing pits, earth strips and power cables from the electricity board meter and the diesel generator, all close to where the fibre must come in. We trace each buried object of this kind first, so the entry pit avoids them all.
• Building entry for rooftop sites. Water tanks, sumps, septic tanks and the building's own cable entries crowd the frontage. A small shift left or right of the gate can clear them.
• Node end. Handholes on main roads tend to sit near junctions, and junctions are where water, sewer and power lines cross each other.

Soil conditions matter too. Old town centres often have rubble fill, which scatters the radar signal and hides small water pipes. Newer suburbs on natural ground read more cleanly, and higher frequencies give sharper detail there. Where the reading is uncertain, the spur sheet says so instead of showing a confident line.

The drawing is only as useful as its timing. A scan done months before drilling can miss a service laid in between. We suggest scheduling the survey close to the drilling date, or adding a quick check on the day. Our pre-excavation utility scanning page explains that option.

What do batched backhaul surveys cost?

Spurs are priced on total metres across the batch: ₹24 per metre for a standard scan, ₹32 for an L-section, with GST extra. The minimum order is ₹50,000 within Delhi NCR and ₹1,00,000 elsewhere. Orders above 100 km get 25% off the whole order, above 500 km 40%, and above 1,000 km 50%.

Here is why batching matters. A single 900 m L-section spur in Pune would cost 900 × ₹32 = ₹28,800, but the ₹1,00,000 minimum outside NCR applies. Twenty-five spurs of about 400 m each in the same circle, 10 km in total, come to 10,000 × ₹24 = ₹2,40,000 plus GST, or under ₹10,000 per site.

Who are we working for on these routes?

For Vodafone Idea Limited itself, and for the contractors, consultants and site acquisition teams who build backhaul. Some spur surveys reach us as direct work orders from the operator, others through those teams. Company names on this page are used only to describe the type of work; all trademarks belong to their owners. Our crews are our own, and the radar systems belong to the company. That matters on batched work: the same engineer who reads the radargrams in the office has walked the spurs, so questions about a doubtful crossing get a straight answer. When a batch spans several towns, we sequence them to cut idle time. Each completed spur sheet is sent as soon as it is ready, without holding the batch back.

Send a list of sites with coordinates and the planned node for each, or ask a survey engineer how best to group them.

Frequently asked questions

How many spurs can one crew do in a day?

In one town with short spurs and easy access, several. Long or awkward spurs, or rooftop entries, take longer.

Can you scan inside a private compound?

Yes, with the owner's permission. Tell us in advance if access needs a letter or a named visitor.

What if the node location changes later?

We scan the new section and add it to the same drawing. It is charged at the same per-metre rate.

Do you scan rooftop cable paths?

No, our work is underground. We cover the ground route up to the building entry.

How do I estimate a batch price?

Add the spur lengths, multiply by the rate and check the minimum. Our page with GPR survey rates details shows the slabs.

Can the drawing show which spurs are easy and which are hard?

Yes. We grade each spur by crossing count and surface so you can schedule the easy ones first. Over time the sheets build into underground utility mapping for the whole circle.

Written by Saniya Parveen · Technically reviewed by Rahul Rai · Updated 8 November 2026