Find our cables


Before You Dig Australia (BYDA) is the essential first step you must take to ensure any ground breaking activity such as digging is safe and damage free. 

Any ground breaking activity can cause damage to our underground communications network: even if it’s something as simple as driving in a star picket or digging in your own backyard.

But with some simple planning and extra care, you can avoid costly damage to your valuable equipment, as well as ours.

Before You Dig Australia (BYDA) is an independent referral service for obtaining information on Australia's underground pipes and cables.

This Australia wide free referral service links people that are digging with utilities such as Telstra, that may have infrastructure buried underground. 

It helps protect important community services that are buried underground, as well as the people excavating nearby.

If you are undertaking a ground breaking activity (for example excavating) you must lodge an enquiry with Before You Dig Australia (BYDA) before you start. They’re available anytime online. It could save you thousands of dollars in costly damage.

Before You Dig Australia will provide details of your request to all the asset owners registered with Before You Dig Australia that have assets in the area you are working in. This includes Telstra. 

Telstra in turn provides a fast automated response directly to requestors via email. This email will include a plan of any Telstra network recorded in the requested area as well important information relevant to your request.

The Telstra Before You Dig Australia (BYDA) response includes information on:

  • How to interpret Telstra plans
  • How to view, download and print electronic plan formats
  • The requirement to engage a DBYD Certified Locator working for a Certified Locating Organisation (CLO)
  • Your responsibilities when working in the vicinity of Telstra plant
  • Essential precautions and approach distances when working near Telstra plant
  • Data extraction fees
  • Contact details including Telstra’s helpdesk for further assistance, reporting damages, requesting asset relocations and contacts for emergency situations.

In most cases Telstra will provide an automated email response within 15 minutes of lodging a request via BYDA. If an automated response cannot be made the request will be completed manually within 2 business days.

An operator response may be required if:

  • Insufficient information is supplied to BYDA to allow automated processing of the request by Telstra (e.g. no return email address to send the maps to).
  • Your requested area is too large to process automatically (for example an area larger than 3.5km or a large file size that is too large to email (due to the amount of data contained).
  • The activity you are undertaking may fall into a category that attracts a data extraction fee (usually special requests or non digging related requests).
  • System issues at either end.

If you have allowed for all the above and still have not received a response, please contact Telstra Plan Services  -