Hasty aerial cables cutting in Timisoara

Some telcos, members of ANISP, reported that Timisoara City Hall started yesterday (18 March 2019) actions to remove aerial cables / networks in certain areas of the city. Photo: https://www.opiniatimisoarei.ro

ANISP supports the development of underground networks in urban areas as they have clear advantages over aerial networks, both aesthetically and in terms of infrastructure security.

In order to move the existing aerial networks underground, telcos expect to find true partners in the local authorities – to cooperate for finding the best solutions in the general interest of both citizens and business environment, whose healthy development is also reflected in the welfare of citizens.

That is why we believe that local authorities, before proceeding to unilateral actions of dismantling aerial communications infrastructure, must make sure alternatives are offered – as in Oradea (a project developed by the City Hall and RCS-RDS) or Bucharest (a project developed by the City Hall and Netcity Telecom) etc.

In these examples, once an alternative subterranean infrastructure was available, telecommunications operators immediately started migrating to underground networks, so the local authorities obtained multiple benefits:

• improved city aspect and citizens’ safety;
• citizens were provided access to quality communications services;
• local budget revenue increased.

In places where the underground migration alternative exists (for example, subterranean ducts), local authorities must allow enough time for migration, since:

• telcos are often forced to work on multiple fronts;
• generally, human resources are not sufficient to carry out massive works in short time;
• a time span is also required for supplying materials (fiber optic cables);
• chaotic cable cuts can lead to interruptions in Internet services to residential users but also to interruptions in connections serving mobile base stations (including access to emergency 112 service) or interruptions of other important information society services (i.e. ATMs, POSs, equipment and traffic monitoring etc).

We ask the local authorities in Timisoara (and any other territorial administrative unit) to postpone aerial networks dismantling until alternative (underground) solutions are available to allow for a safe relocation of the fiber optics cables. Also, where elements of underground infrastructure exist, the involved parties need to make sure that such can be used (for example: are not clogged, are not not interrupted, they really reach the buildings to be connected and access is made in a non-discriminatory way and at fair prices).