French infrastructure was targeted for a 2nd time during the Olympics, with internet and phone cables cut across the country
Internet and phone services in six regions of France were disrupted after fiber optic cables were cut overnight.
It is the second attack on French infrastructure while the country hosts the Olympics.
On Friday, several arson attacks damaged railway lines. A man was arrested on Sunday, AFP reported.
French phone and internet services were targeted on Sunday night, in the second incident to affect French infrastructure while the nation hosts the Olympics.
Multiple telecommunications operators were experiencing disruption after fiber optic cables were "sabotaged" across six regions of France, French police told Agence France-Presse.
The regions of Bouches-du-Rhône, Aude, Hérault, Drôme in the south and Oise and Meuse in the north had been affected, according to France Info.
"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.
She called the attacks "cowardly and irresponsible."
Authorities were working with the operators to restore services, she said. No one has claimed responsibility.
SFR, one of the affected providers, told France Télévisions that access gates to at least five locations had been damaged and very large cables had been cut, likely with some kind of grinder, France Info reported.
"Acts of vandalism" were carried out at five separate points on SFR property last night, a spokesperson from the company told Business Insider.
"The impact for SFR customers is very low because there are workaround solutions," the spokesperson said.
The disruption to broadband services is the second major incident for France's infrastructure as it hosts the 2024 Olympics. It is not known if the two incidents are connected.
On Friday, as Paris prepared for the Olympics opening ceremony, three major railway lines were damaged by arson attacks causing disruption across the transport network.
The attacks came as up to 800,000 travelers were expected to travel for vacation over the weekend. Two trains taking Olympic athletes to Paris were reportedly impacted, the Associated Press reported.
France's national railway company, the SCNF, later said it made emergency repairs and would resume normal service on Monday. France's transport minister said details made clear that the arson attacks had been coordinated.
On Sunday, French authorities arrested an activist from an ultra-left movement at a site belonging to SNCF in Oissel, northern France, AFP reported.
This is not the first time that French fiber-optic cables have been targeted.
In 2022, two high-profile incidents of cable cutting around the country led to internet outages.
The French police launched an investigation on charges including "damaging goods of a nature of harming the fundamental interests of the nation."
SFR and the Center for the Defense of Electronic Communications did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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