Three days after attacks on the rail system caused trains all over the nation to stop, authorities reported on Monday that fibre-optic cables had been “sabotaged” in several French regions.
The report claimed that there was no impact on connections serving Paris, the location of the real games.
But this is not the first attack on French infrastructure in recent days; train movement was hampered before last week’s opening ceremony by “coordinated” burns on rail lines.
Telecom firms informed Bloomberg that while they worked on repairs, customers would experience slower speeds while the carriers looked for other routes.
According to France Info, the impacted regions were Oise and Meuse in the north, Bouches-du-Rhône, Aude, Hérault, and Drôme in the south.
“Damages committed in several departments last night affected our telecommunications operators,” confirmed Marina Ferrari, Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, in a post on X.
Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the telecom sabotage, according to a person close to the issue who spoke with AFP.
“What frankly makes us furious is that we feel the state has not realised the importance of these potential attacks on France’s strategic infrastructures,” said Nicolas Guillaume of Netalis, a specialised operator.
“We’ve already seen it with what happened to (rail operator) SNCF.”
Authorities were working with the operators to restore service, she said. Nobody has taken responsibility.
SFR, one of the impacted providers, notified France Télévisions that at least five locations’ entry gates had been destroyed and very large wires had been cut, most likely using a grinder, according to France Info.
The disruption of broadband connections is the second significant event affecting France’s infrastructure as it prepares to host the 2024 Olympics.
It is unclear whether the two instances are connected.
We earlier reported that a tech company’s decision to pull its advertising from the 2024 Paris Olympics has sparked debate following a contentious opening ceremony performance.
