French internet goes down after ‘cables cut’

Internet and phone services were not functioning or were running slowly in several French cities yesterday after fibre optic cables were cut in suspected attacks on crucial data infrastructure, telecoms operators said.

Free, the worst-affected internet and mobile phone service provider, said there had been “multiple malicious acts” targeting its cables overnight, which led to internet blackouts and slow connections for many clients.

Competitor SFR said it had experienced “several fibre cuts” in Paris and Lyon.