Sabotage of Fiber-Optic Network in Heilbronn. Eleven Telecommunication Cabinets Damaged

On the night from Sunday, February 22 to Monday, February 23, 2026, unknown perpetrators carried out an organized attack on critical telecommunication infrastructure in southern German Heilbronn. Vandals damaged fiber-optic cables located in eleven distribution street cabinets. This led to interruptions in internet supply for local customers. The network operator, Deutsche GigaNetz, reported that at the peak of the outage, up to 220 households and businesses were left without network access. Repair work began immediately. As stated by Deutsche GigaNetz, by Monday afternoon, connectivity had been restored for about 140 affected subscribers. Around twenty technicians are working on-site, who must manually reconnect hundreds of severed fiber-optic strands. Full service restoration for all those affected by the outage is planned for Thursday, February 26. Operator representatives emphasize that the material damage is very serious and amounts to "hundreds of thousands of euros." Costs include not only valuable materials but also the labor of many specialists and reputational losses. Police in Heilbronn have launched an investigation into serious property damage. The motive and identity of the perpetrators have not yet been established. Attacks on telecommunication infrastructure, which form the basis of modern society and economy, are treated very seriously under German law. Such crimes can be subject to severe penalties. Local authorities and the operator are appealing to residents for information that could lead investigators to the vandals. Fiber-optic infrastructure, the backbone of digital transformation, has been undergoing intensive expansion in Germany since the 1990s, as part of government programs such as "Gigabitstrategie." Its protection against vandalism and sabotage is a concern for both operators and state services.