Sabotage attack on the French fiber optic network

The SRF of Switzerland and Germany reported that unknown people damaged fiber optic networks in parts of France at night.

The French telecommunications association FFTélécoms announced that 9 out of 101 French departments were attacked.

These nightly attacks were carried out on the long-distance network of several telecommunication providers and fixed and mobile networks and affected them. Marina Ferrari, an official in the French cabinet, wrote in X that they are working on a full restoration of services. He emphasized: I condemn these cowardly and irresponsible actions in the strongest possible way.

The public prosecutor’s office in Paris led the investigation, including damage to telecommunications equipment aimed at harming the country’s fundamental interests. The work of research and search in this regard was assigned to the sub-department of combating terrorism (SDAT) and the General Directorate of the Gendarmerie. The prosecutor’s office initially did not say anything about who was behind the vandalism.

Le Parisien newspaper reported that providers Bouygues, Free and SFR were affected by the attacks. SFR reported vandalism in six areas between 1 am and 3 am and said cables were cut. The attack had effects on landline and mobile phone networks, including the networks of foreign providers that use the SFR network.

According to this newspaper, it is not yet known how many people have been affected by this incident. No one has yet taken responsibility for these damages. According to broadcaster France Info, SFR assumes that only a small number of customers have network problems.

On Friday, which was the opening day of the Olympic Games, acts of vandalism paralyzed a large part of French rail transport. Hundreds of thousands of passengers were affected, including some athletes who could not make it in time for the opening ceremony.

Over the weekend, France’s rail transport gradually returned to normal, and the country’s transport minister announced that all trains would run as normal again.

According to media reports, dozens of people have been arrested in France so far, because they are accused of trying to disrupt the Olympic Games. French Interior Minister Gérald Daronin told France 2 that the security forces arrested almost 50 people. According to him, they wanted to do “subversive actions or radical protests” in the first Olympic games, but this was prevented.

The newspaper Le Parisien reported that 45 members of the radical environmental movement Extinction Rebellion were arrested. With their planned actions, they wanted to protest the social and environmental consequences of the Olympics.

According to media reports, after the attacks on the railway network in France, the telecommunications network has now been attacked. Le Parisien newspaper and BFM television reported, citing police sources, that systems belonging to telecommunications groups SFR, Free and Bouygues Telecom were damaged in “acts of vandalism” overnight.

According to the published reports, infrastructure destruction has occurred in the south of the country, in the Meuse region near Luxembourg and in the Ouse region near Paris. These “sabotage actions” affected six regions in the south-west, east and north of the country, but not the capital Paris, where the Olympic Games are currently being held.