They no longer have a landline or Internet at home. Since Friday, around 15,000 households have been somewhat cut off from the world in Brest (Finistère). This follows a big blunder committed by a construction company which is currently working on the site of the future tramway. At the end of the morning, a machine which was at work on the construction site inadvertently tore out a concrete pipe, damaging part of the Orange telecommunications network.
“Eight cables housing hundreds of fiber optics are to be replaced”, indicates the communication department of Orange Bretagne. “The network being shared”, the failure does not only concern Orange subscribers but those of “all commercial operators”. In addition to the 15,000 households, about 80 companies located in the southern sector of Brest (station, commercial port, rue Magenta) are also deprived of landline telephones and Internet.
“A big project like this very rarely happens”
An “exceptional” incident, according to the operator, which will require “a major project as very rarely happens on this scale”. As of Saturday, an optical fiber supplying the mobile network of Pougastel, south of Brest, has already been repaired. From this Monday, sections of optical fiber will also be laid to replace the damaged cables.
Orange teams will finally perform “more than a thousand welds on the optical fibers” to reconnect all subscribers. According to the operator, which invites its subscribers to use the mobile network, the work will be spread over the whole week.