Telecom outages strike France amid Paris Olympics 2024 after vandalism

Telecom installations from French companies SFR and Bouygues Telecom were vandalized, causing some fixed and mobile services to experience disruptions. It is not yet known if these outages will impact the ongoing Olympic events across France. This incident follows recent attacks by unidentified arsonists on three high-speed train routes, which severely disrupted traffic just hours before the Opening Ceremony.

“Damages committed in several departments last night affected our telecommunications operators. They have localized consequences on access to fiber, fixed telephony and mobile telephony,” read a social media post by Marina Ferrari – the secretary of state in charge of digital affairs.

An SFR spokesperson informed Reuters that vandals had targeted five locations of its long-distance network early Monday morning, making cuts across various parts of France. Despite this, the effect on customers was minimal, as the network's design allows it to reroute traffic efficiently.

According to a report by Le Parisien on Monday morning, cables in electrical cabinets were severed in southern France. The report also noted that installations in the Meuse region near Luxembourg and the Oise area near Paris were vandalized, primarily disrupting fixed-line services.