The Baltic telecommunications cable between Helsinki and Rostock has been damaged, Finnish fiber optic network provider Cinia announced on Monday. Swedish authorities said they were investigating the incident and were in contact with their allies. On Sunday morning, an undersea telecommunications cable that runs at the bottom of the Baltic Sea between Lithuania and Sweden was damaged, reported the Swedish company Telia. This cable connects at the bottom of the sea to the cable between Helsinki and Rostock.
Minister of Civil Defense SwedenCarl-Johan Bohlin, referring to the damage to the cable between Helsinki and Rostock, stated that the government was closely monitoring the development of the situation. – It is crucial to obtain full clarity about the cause of this incident – he emphasized. The minister stated that the relevant offices had initiated explanatory proceedings.
The spokesman for the Swedish Armed Forces, Henrik Nystroem, assured that the army “has an accurate picture of the situation in the region” and exchanges information with both “affected entities and allies.”
Transmission disruptions were recorded on Monday morning. The cause of the failure is not yet known.
Intentional action cannot be ruled out
According to the main national telecommunications operators, the event – so far – has not affected data transmission and the provision of services. The cable – as reported at the press conference – was interrupted approximately halfway along the section running through the Swedish economic zone, east of the southern coast of the island of Öland.
Currently, it cannot be assumed that sabotage occurred, but the cable could probably have been damaged as a result of an impact, and intentional action cannot be ruled out, the Cinia authorities said.
A repair ship will arrive from France. The initial estimated repair time is from a few to several days.
The C-Lion 1 cable, approximately 1,173 km long, located at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, was put into operation in 2016. It connects Central Europe with Finlandother Scandinavian countries and Asia. Local media remind that the cable runs along the same route as the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
C-Lion 1 cable at the bottom of the Baltic SeaGoogle Maps
Failure of an undersea telecommunications cable between Lithuania and Sweden
However, on Sunday morning, an undersea telecommunications cable, which runs at the bottom of the Baltic Sea between… Lithuania and Sweden – the Swedish company Telia announced on Monday.
According to the company's chief technical officer, Andrius Semeskevicius, it is not yet clear whether the cable failed due to damage or was intentionally interrupted. However, Semeskevicius, quoted by the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT, assured that the problem did not cause major disruptions in data transmission and that customers were using alternative connections.
The cable between Lithuania and Sweden connects at the bottom of the sea to the cable between Helsinki and Rostock in Germany.
Main photo source: Google Maps