Bangkok officials promise to move the communication cabling underground, again

The BMA (Bangkok Metropolitan Authority) says it will again attempt to clear the ubiquitous tangled mess of cables that hang over BKK streets. But this time they are saying they are going to put the communication cabling underground only, not the power supply.

Bangkok Gov. Aswin Kwanmuang says the administration is working with the national broadcasting regulator (NBTC) to move all the telecommunication cabling underground within two years, as part of its campaign to “beautify the city’s scenery”.

The Governor says the work will start after the royal coronation ceremony which will run between May 4-6. He says the burying process will stretch more than 2,400 kilometres across the capital but insists that the work won’t distrupt the public.

It’s not the first time the city officials have announced the tangled hung power and utilities lines would be moved underground. But the process has dragged on with virtually no progress.

In 2016, billionaire Bill Gates posted a photo of a hanging mass of cables in Bangkok, embarrassing officials into a promise to bury the lines within five years.