Fiber optic sabotage: around 100,000 Free subscribers were affected

Free revealed that around 100,000 of its subscribers were affected by sabotage on the French fiber optic network which led to slowdowns and cuts to Internet access in several major cities on Wednesday.

“We had around 100,000 subscribers affected by these cuts, mainly in the east of France, in Strasbourg, Gravelines and Reims. We managed to restore service after four or five hours., said Thomas Reynaud, the general manager of Iliad (parent company of Free) at the microphone of Europe 1. “Even if these sabotages only concerned a small minority of our subscribers – less than 1% – they are acts of extreme gravity because they were coordinated”he added.

Free was alerted overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday at 3 am. “Our supervision center was alerted by simultaneous fiber optic cuts which did not only concern Free, but also two other operators”, continued Thomas Reynaud. He assures that his teams reacted very quickly to repair these cuts and restore service.

Thomas Reynaud, CEO of Free-Groupe Iliad: “These are extremely serious acts, they were coordinated. It was not Free who was necessarily targeted, it was the French” pic.twitter.com/giQa6pJky4

— Europe 1 🎧🌍📻 (@Europe1) April 28, 2022

According to the operators’ findings, it is long-distance interregional fiber optic cables, which run along motorways, railways and waterways, which have been deliberately cut in several places, in particular the Paris-Lyon and Paris- Strasbourg.

The impact was “short and on the edge” for subscribers of the operator SFR, said a spokesperson for the company, announcing a return to normal on all of its networks.

A judicial inquiry has been opened by the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office for deterioration of property likely to harm the fundamental interests of the Nation, obstruction of an automated data processing system and association of criminals.