Installations belonging to Free, SFR and Bouygues were sabotaged during the night. No one has claimed responsibility.
Telecom companies in France, including at least SFR, Bouygues and Free, have been targeted by acts of vandalism, mere days after a wave of sabotage also hit the country’s rail network.
SFR reported incidents between 1 am and 3 am CET in six administrative departments of France: Hérault, Bouches-du-Rhône, Oise, Meuse, Drôme and Aude. Free also noted incidents in Marne and Vaucluse.
The fibre optic network had been cut and that fixed and mobile lines had been affected, according to a police source quoted by domestic media.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, and the Olympic Games have reportedly been unaffected.
Marina Ferrari, France’s secretary of state for digital affairs, said in a post on X that under her supervision, the authorities and operators are working together to restore service as quickly as possible.
“I condemn these cowardly and irresponsible acts in the strongest possible terms,” she said. “I would like to thank the teams who have been mobilised since this morning to carry out the repairs and bring the damaged sites back into service.”
Arrest made over railway sabotage
The acts of sabotage come three days after last week’s arson attacks on France’s high-speed train network, which heavily disrupted travel just hours before the Olympic Games opening ceremony kicked off.
France has since announced that it has made an arrest following last week’s sabotage of the country’s SNCF rail network.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin explained on Monday that a far-left activist had been apprehended in connection with the attacks shortly before Friday’s opening ceremony.
Speaking to France 2 TV, Darmanin claimed France was “leaning towards the likelihood” that far-left extremists were behind the arson attacks.
“We have identified the profiles of several people,” he said, “This is the traditional type of action of the ultra-left.”
However, he urged caution before jumping to conclusions about whether those profiled were close to anyone on the far left.
“The question is to know whether they were manipulated” or acted “for their own benefit,” Darmanin said. “These are people who may be close to this movement.”
He also responded to an anonymous statement that was sent to several news outlets after the attacks, which expressed support for the sabotage and was signed simply by “an unexpected delegation”.
The statement also criticised the games, calling it a “celebration of nationalism” and suggesting it has a hand in the oppression of people by nation-states.
ADVERTISEMENTDarmanin again erred on the side of caution, saying the statement was “something that resembles” a claim of responsibility but added that it could just be a case of opportunism.
Friday’s vandalism saw saboteurs strike France’s high-speed train network in pre-dawn attacks that hit signal substations and cables at critical points, causing travel chaos hours before the long-awaited opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
Some 800,000 people faced travel disruptions because of the attacks. That figure included 100,000 people whose trains had to be cancelled outright.
While Darmanin bemoaned the fact that the cost to the state-owned rail operator SNCF would be considerable, all trains were back up and running by Monday morning after experts worked all weekend to fix the damage.
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