French telecom infrastructure damaged in another sabotage attack

Fiber optic networks of several French telecommunication service providers have been “sabotaged” overnight, disrupting some fixed and mobile services.

The country’s second-largest telecom operator, SFR, said in a statement on X that its long-distance cables were “vandalized” and that the company’s services may be disrupted “in the most impacted areas.”

French police told news agency AFP that the incident occurred in six areas of France. Paris, the current host of the Olympic Games, wasn’t affected.

Data from internet monitoring service NetBlocks show disruptions to multiple internet providers in France, including Free and Alphalink.

⚠️ Confirmed: Network data show disruptions to multiple internet providers in #France amid reports of a fibre sabotage campaign targeting telecoms infrastructure during the Paris 2024 Olympics 📉 pic.twitter.com/OOIfcc4TOO

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) July 29, 2024

France’s junior digital minister, Marina Ferrari, confirmed the attack on Monday, adding that telecom operators have already “localized” its consequences without providing further details. “I condemn in the strongest terms these cowardly and irresponsible acts,” she added.

The local newspaper Le Parisien reported that the cables belonging to SFR and Bouygues Telecom had been cut in southern France, with installations near Luxembourg and Paris sabotaged.

The cables were located in places “that are little known to the general public and that required precise information.” They were likely damaged “by highly equipped and organized individuals,” according to the reports.

"Large sections of cables were cut. You would have to use an axe or a grinder,” SFR’s spokesperson told AFP.

Local media reported that French telecom operators whose infrastructure was affected by sabotage have already deployed technical workers to the sites to assess and repair the damages.

This is another suspected act of vandalism affecting France during a major international event. Last week, the country’s high-speed railway, SNCF, was hit by coordinated “malicious acts” hours before the games’ opening ceremony.

A series of sabotage activities, including arson, disrupted travel for hundreds of thousands of people, though train traffic returned to normal on Monday. French authorities suspect far-left extremists to be behind the incident. Their attacks were “deliberate, very precise, and extremely well-targeted,” said French interior minister Gerald Darmanin.

There isn’t much detail available about the fiber optic network sabotage and how many people were affected by it. It is also not clear if the attacks on SNCF and on French telecom infrastructure are linked.

Telecom operator Free said in a statement on X that its national network has suffered a significant slowdown this morning and that services are provided “with a degradation in quality.”

French cloud provider OVH said it is working to reroute traffic after the incident, which had caused slower performance on connections between Europe and Asia Pacific, its spokesperson told Bloomberg.

According to Nicolas Guillaume, head of French internet service provider Netalis, which was also affected by the sabotage, the incident is “unacceptable” and the company would “file a complaint.” Guillaume also shared a picture of one of the cables cut last night.

France has been on high alert during the Olympics. Authorities have previously warned about possible terrorist acts, sabotage of infrastructure and cyberattacks.

Around 45,000 police and thousands of soldiers were deployed in Paris during the games’ opening ceremony last week.

France wasn’t the only country whose telecom infrastructure was sabotaged over the weekend. In Finland, a cell phone tower was knocked down in the city of Janakkala, causing disruptions to the mobile services of the local telecom provider Elisa.

The police are currently investigating the incident, but Elisa's security director told local media that the possibility of vandalism “cannot be ruled out” as the cables that attach the tower to the ground were cut. The tower is more than 70 meters high and is located in the middle of the forest.

It is not clear if the events in France and Finland are linked.