Tangled 'spider webs' of black cables were hanging above the streets of Bangkok this week as officials battled to move them all underground.

The overhanging wires include high-voltage electricity lines delivering power to thousands of nearby homes in the Thai capital. There are also phone lines - relics of the landline age that has now been replaced by ubiquitous smartphones and 5G connections.

Shockingly, many of the lines are in a state of disrepair with exposed cables, dozens hanging on single posts, broken connectors and wires that rest on bridges and walkways.

The footage is from the Huai Khwang area but similar scenes can be found throughout the city as well as other parts of the country.

It comes despite an announcement this month from Thailand's Ministry of Interior that overhead electric cables on some of Bangkok's busiest roads had been moved underground. Officials said that the cables are being put underground to modernise the country.

The Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) said that it plans to remove additional aerial power lines on a stretch of 167 kilometres.

In 2016, controversial Microsoft founder Bill Gates posted an image of Thailand's messy black cables and wrongly claimed it was a sign of residents illegally tapping into the electricity grid.

He later deleted the image but embarrassed Thai officials vowed to spend THB51.7 billion on a project to untangle the cables and move them all underground. The improvements have yet to be completed.