Basel: No internet or TV for the Christmas holidays!
This is the fourth act of sabotage in five days at Rheinfelden, a few kilometres east of Basel: Thursday evening, some newly repaired fibre optic cables of the Improware company were cut again in two places.
This happened after some municipal fibre optic cables were deliberately damaged various times during the new year holiday season: on 23rd December, at around midnight, several bundles of fibre optic cables, with up to 288 optic fibres per bundle, were cut. This damage was repaired on Christmas eve and affected around 600 clients of the cable network. On Christmas day, 25th December, some optic fibre cables were destroyed by incendiary objects at Riehen (north district of Basel) this time, and the next day on Decembver 26th othe optic fibre cables were damaged in another place in Rheinfelden.
This is the most serious act : about 3 400 clients were affected. This damage was also repaired around 3pm on December 27th – but not for long : the latest sabotage of December 28th at around midnight wiped out all the repairs of the two Rheinfelden sites. This time about 4000 clients of the cable network were affected by Internet, telephone and TV connection failures the operating company ImproWare AG reports.
« These repeated destructions have have resulted in several service 
outages in radio/television and broadband services operated by Improware AG, such as Internet, Replay TV and fixed telephone », explains Sascha Gloor, general manager of ImproWare AG. Concerning the sabotage, Never experienced on such a scale, partner companies were mobilized day and night during the holiday season, continues Gloor, who points out : « At the moment a dozen collaborators of three partner companies are working on the two sites. »
Criminal energy is required to destroy the cables, Sascha Gloor explains : afin de procéder au sabotage, it is necessary to lift the gards and loosen the formwork and screws. That’s the only way to reach the cables. The police spokesman of Argovie, Adrian Bieri confirms him : « Those responsible cut the optic fibre cables with a bolt cutter, it’s not a joke. Presumably the authors know exactly which cables to cut and the damage it will cause. »
