Traficom and other authorities investigate cable damage in the Gulf of Finland

The disconnected cables were Fingrid’s EstLink 2 electricity transmission connection between Finland and Estonia and Elisa’s submarine cables between Helsinki and Tallinn. Two other submarine telecommunications cables have sustained damage: Cinia’s cable connecting Finland and Germany has been damaged between Helsinki and Hanko and CITIC’s submarine cable between Helsinki and Tallinn.

Traficom and other authorities together with telecommunications operators and service providers are looking into the course of events and the causes of the cable faults. The Finnish police have also launched a criminal investigation into the matter. The investigation involves international cooperation.

In accordance with normal preparedness procedures, traffic via the damaged cables was immediately routed to backup connections, ensuring that telecommunications connections between Finland, Europe and the rest of the world are fully functional.

The cable disruptions may mean slower communications connections for customers. Traficom is looking into the effects based on reports from the operators. Repairs will begin later this week. How long the work will take depends on weather conditions, for example. The companies will provide more information about their repair schedules.

Traficom is monitoring the progress of the repairs in cooperation with the operators and other authorities.

Telecommunications connections between Finland and the world have been made redundant with multiple backup connections.

To ensure functioning telecommunications, there are several submarine cables connecting Finland to Europe and other parts of the world. In Mainland Finland, there are thousands of cables. The most important systems are duplicated and route-redundant. In the event of hardware or connection failures or during maintenance, traffic is automatically routed to a backup connection and will function normally. All these preparations are carried out in routine cooperation among telecommunications operators.

“The use of the internet is not dependent on just one cable or even its backup connection. The system withstands multiple simultaneous disruptions,” says Jarkko Saarimäki, Director-General of Traficom.

The incident has not affected Finland’s security of supply. Finland is well prepared for various disturbances in electricity transmission and telecommunications. Different sectors of society work in close cooperation to prepare for disruptions and disturbances, and the authorities and companies practice the procedures together regularly.