Disruptions were detected on Boxing Day in a total of four telecommunications cables connecting Finland in the Baltic Sea.
Two of the data links are marine cables operated by Elisa, running between Helsinki and Tallinn, Estonia. One also running from Helsinki to Tallinn is owned by the Chinese-owned CITIC Telecom.
The fourth cable is Cinia's C-Lion1 submarine cable, which connects Helsinki to Germany. Finnish state-owned company Cinia has pinpointed the damage to its cable southeast of the Porkkala peninsula, just west of Helsinki on the Gulf of Finland.
According to the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom), Elisa's cables have been severed, and two other cables have sustained damage.
At a press conference on Thursday, Jarkko Saarimäki, Director-General of Traficom stated that the agency was informed about disruptions to the Elisa and Cinia cables on Wednesday evening. Information about the fourth cable damage emerged on Thursday morning.
According to Saarimäki, telecommunication cables are robust, and their failure typically requires external force.
No impact on services so far
Traficom noted that the outages could result in slower connections for customers. However, Saarimäki said that there have been no significant impacts so far.
Elisa Finland confirmed the disruption in the submarine cable connections between Finland and Estonia. According to Elisa's Chief Security Officer Jaakko Wallenius, the disruptions have not affected the operator's services in Finland or Estonia.
"Our networks are designed with sufficient capacity to handle such situations, ensuring there will be no service impacts in Finland or Estonia," Wallenius said, adding that it was still too early to estimate how long the repairs would take.
"It's difficult to say at this stage. Factors such as weather conditions will have a significant impact," he added.
Estonian minister: Serious problem
Estonian public broadcaster ERR was the first to report on the cable disruptions. Estonia's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications stated that the cause of the cable damage was unknown.
Cable damage poses a significant problem for Estonia, Finland, and other Baltic Sea nations, Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets told Yle.
According to Läänemets, what makes the situation particularly concerning is that the incidents seem to always involve vessels linked to two countries: Russia and China.