- In Rheinfelden, around 4,000 customers have no internet, radio, television or telephone connection.
- For the third time within a week, fiber optic cables were cut in Rheinfelden (AG).
- After incidents on December 23rd and 26th, the newly repaired cables were cut again on December 28th at two locations in Rheinfelden.
- The police are looking for the perpetrators and the operating company is shocked.
Legend:
The cut cables after Christmas.
zvg/ImproWare AG
Fiber optic cables can transport a large amount of data. That’s why more and more of them are being laid in Switzerland.
The cables in Rheinfelden were cut shortly before midnight on December 23rd. On December 26th, fiber optic cables were cut at a second location in Rheinfelden. In Riehen, fiber optic cables were also destroyed with burning objects before 11 p.m. on December 25th.
Another sabotage
After all damage had been repaired by Wednesday afternoon, another sabotage followed on Thursday night around 12:30 a.m. The cables were destroyed again at both locations in Rheinfelden. Meanwhile, around 4,000 cable network customers are affected by the outages, reports the operating company ImproWare AG. The fiber optic cables belong to the municipality and are now being repaired again.
The operating company is shocked: “We were happy that we were able to repair the damage in the last few days. I’m speechless,” says Sascha Gloor, managing director of ImproWare AG, to SRF. Gloor has been working in the field for 30 years. He experienced such an incident for the first time in all these years in mid-2023 in Rheinfelden, and now again. Otherwise, something like this would never have happened.
Criminal energy needed
The police are investigating, confirmed cantonal police media spokesman Adrian Bieri on Wednesday: “The perpetrators cut the fiber optic cable with bolt cutters, this is not a prank.”
Even after the latest incidents in Rheinfelden, the police are involved and are looking for the perpetrators, writes the operating company ImproWare.
Legend:
The cables in Rheinfelden that were cut again. Around 4,000 cable network customers are affected, says the operating company.
zvg/ImproWare AG
You need criminal energy to destroy the cables, says Sascha Gloor, managing director of ImproWare AG. To carry out sabotage, you have to raise shafts and loosen the formwork and screws. This is the only way to get access to the cables.
Legend:
The federal government is promoting the expansion of fiber optic networks. This is how the challenge of tomorrow’s information society should be addressed, he writes on his website.
Keystone/Carlo Reguzzi
In the first incident in Rheinfelden, several fiber optic bundles were destroyed. There are up to 288 glass fibers per bundle, says the operating company ImproWare AG. It offers the product broadband.ch.
Fiber optic cables are made up of many individual glass fibers that are made of quartz glass and form an optical fiber (LWL), Deutsche Telekom, for example, explains the technology.
This type of cable can transmit enormous amounts of data. The old technologies (copper and coax) are reaching their technical limits. That’s why more and more fiber optic cables are being laid in Switzerland.
Various companies are now trying to repair the damage as quickly as possible. The motive is not clear, says ImproWare. The police have secured clues and the investigation is ongoing.
Isolated case or network at risk?
Swisscom spokesman Sepp Huber speaks of an isolated case. Swisscom has not experienced any incidents similar to those in Rheinfelden in recent years, said Huber. In principle, the networks are secure. The fiber optic networks in the ground are not freely accessible. The headquarters are also very well protected.
Only the shafts in the quarters are accessible, but special tools are needed, Huber told SRF: “You have to be very specific.”