PARIS (AP) — The French government is investigating an attack on several telecommunications lines on Monday that affected fiber optic, landline and mobile phone networks. 2024 Paris Olympics.
Olympics organizers in Paris said their operations were not affected. France’s second-largest telecoms company said it had already repaired some locations or had implemented workarounds to limit the impact. Other carriers had resumed service late on Monday.
The vandalism Arson attacks hit rail network On Friday across France, Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said a national investigation had been launched into the attack on the optical fiber cable and “damage to communications systems.” Crimes under investigation include damage to property with intent to harm the vital interests of the state and attacks on data processing systems by an organized group, which carry prison sentences of 10 to 15 years, the prosecutor said.
The Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, Marina Ferrari, posted on X that the damage occurred overnight between Sunday and Monday, affecting telecommunications companies in several regions. Ferrari said that the impact affected access to fiber optic lines, landlines and mobile networks in some areas.
French police said the problem was occurring in at least six of the country’s regions, including the area around the Mediterranean city of Marseille. olympic soccer and Sailing.
Paris 2024 organisers said they had received reports of disruptions to fibre optic networks in several French departments but “can only confirm that there is no impact on operations”.
France’s second-largest telecoms company, SFR, said its long-distance network was “the target of acts of vandalism in five locations in five departments between 1 am and 3 am.”
“Maintenance teams are on site and conducting repair work,” SFR said in a statement. The company added that “sufficient back-up and workaround solutions are in place so the impact of the vandalism to customers is minimal.”
The company also said up to eight French and international telecommunications operators that use SFR’s infrastructure were affected, adding that full service had already been restored in some areas by Monday afternoon.
Telecoms operators Bouygues and Free confirmed they had been affected, with Free later saying services had been restored after “an incident affecting several networks in 11 departments.”
There is also a national investigation into the vandalism of a train last week, which disrupted travel for around a million passengers in France, as well as London and neighbouring countries, with train services largely resuming by Monday.
French media reported that far-left activists were arrested at a railway facility in the Seine-Maritime department in western France on Sunday, but the Paris prosecutor’s office said it was unrelated to Friday’s incident and that no one had been arrested so far in a national investigation into the arson.
Sark reported from Nice. Nicolas Vaux-Montagny contributed from Lyon.
