Several French regions suffered telecommunications disruptions following malicious damage on the evening of July 28. The cutting of fiber optic cables caused outages in six regions and affected several major French operators, including SFR and Free.
SFR reported that around 10,000 customers were affected by the damage, but a company spokesperson confirmed that the impact was minimal because the network is designed to redirect traffic.
The cutting of the cable will only have “localized consequences,” according to the Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, Marina Ferrari, who has condemned The attack was described as “cowardly and irresponsible.”
Reassured
Although SFR has not confirmed which parts of its cable network were hit, it did confirm that the damage would have required an “axe or an angle grinder” to cause, seemingly confirming the deliberate nature of the destruction. The six regions affected were Meuse, Aude, Bouches-du-Rhône, Hérault, Oise and Drôme, while Paris was not affected.
It is unclear whether the attacks were intended to disrupt the Paris Olympics, as the sabotage comes days after an attack on France's high-speed rail network affected hundreds of thousands of commuters across the country.
Although no one has claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez has… confirmed There is suspicion of far-left organisations, who point out that “there is a modus operandi in that first attack that makes one think of the extreme left.”
At the time of writing, no official link has been established between the two attacks. Due to the extensive knowledge required to carry out the rail attacks, Axel Persson, leader of the CGT railway union, has urged Authorities do not rule out “industrial espionage.”
Telecom operations have not yet been fully restored in the affected areas, and crews have been called out early this morning to repair damaged cables. Progress has reportedly been made in restoring service in four of the six affected regions, with work underway in the last two.
France remains on high alert as the Paris Olympics pose unprecedented security concerns, with more than 15 million tourists expected throughout the event, but French President Emmanuel Macron reassured Attendees said: “We are prepared and we will be prepared throughout the Games.”
