Several network operators in France have been impacted after a reported sabotage of fiber cables.

The outages follow the disruption last week to the country's railway services, as France hosts the 2024 Olympic Games.

Le Parisien newspaper reported that cables in electrical cabinets had been cut in parts of southern France, while cable installations in the Meuse region near Luxembourg and the Oise area near Paris had been vandalized, affecting mainly fixed-line services.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Nicolas Guillaume, CEO of French Internet provider Netalis, sounded the alarm: "A new major sabotage of long-distance cables took place last night in France around 2:15 am. Several operators, including Free, Netalis, and others, are affected again."

In a follow-up post, he said it will take a "few hours" to solve the disruption to services.

Guillaume said that the service disruption is impacting customers in Montpellier, Marseille, Paris, and Lyon.

Free Pro, the corporate branch of French telco Iliad, also confirmed disruption to its network, in a post on LinkedIn.

"Since 2:15 am UTC+2 on Monday, July 29th, our national network is experiencing a significant slowdown. All our services are provided, sometimes with a degradation in quality of service. Our technicians are fully committed to investigating and carrying out the necessary repairs," the company said.

The country's outgoing Junior Minister for Digital Affairs, Marina Ferrari, condemned the attack on social media.

"Last night, our telecommunications operators were affected by damage in several departments. I condemn these cowardly and irresponsible acts."

On Friday (July 26), the day of the opening ceremony, rail services in France were disrupted due to arson attacks, impacting 250,000 passengers, and as many as 800,000 people.

The cable cuts come two years after several coordinated incidents where multiple backbone cables were severed in France by unknown saboteurs.

This is a developing story that we'll update as we find out more