BT and Virgin Media are among four firms that have been fined for failing to reopen Scottish roads on schedule after carrying out work to their broadband and home phone networks.
Openreach, BT's local access network business, was slapped with a £38,500 penalty by Scottish Road Works Commissioner John Gooday, while a fine of £14,000 was imposed on Virgin Media.
The fines, which were issued to companies that failed to achieve an 80 per cent success rate for reopening roads on time, were the first penalties to be imposed by Mr Gooday since he was appointed to the position five years ago.
Scottish Water and Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution, part of Scottish and Southern Energy, were also hit with fines.
Responding to the news, a Virgin Media spokesman told the Scotsman that the cable company is "committed to continuing improvements to ensure we meet - and exceed - the overall pass rate in the future".
BT is set to carry out further roadworks in Scotland over the coming months as it rolls out faster copper broadband to a further 186,000 homes and businesses in 47 exchange areas across the country by this summer.