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The LSBUD (Line Search Before You Dig) organisation, which provides an online asset search facility to UK street works firms for underground pipes and cables, has published their Digging Up Britain 2026 report and revealed that telecoms (broadband, mobile etc.) remains the “most active industry” when it comes to searching before digging (36.2% of all searches, down from 37.5% in 2025).
The report notes that, during 2025, the number of search enquiries that passed through LSBUD’s portal reached 4.094 million (up from 3.85m last year). Thanks to the roll-out of new mobile and full fibre broadband infrastructure, telecoms has remained the dominant industry in need of detailed underground mapping, amassing a total of 1,504,000 searches or 36.2% of the total (a 4% increase on last year) – closely followed by the water sector (27.3%).
“Given that searches overall increased by 6%, the telecoms share of the total declined slightly. However, thanks to the Government’s ongoing commitment (backed by some £1.9 billion capital investment up to 2029-30) to continue delivery of both Project Gigabit and SRN programmes, searches for the telecoms sector will likely continue to hold strong for the mid-term,” said the report.