Brest, France - Intruders cause mega-breakdown at Telecom

translated from cette semaine

(Ouest France) - September 4, 2010, Brest, west France - Tens of thousands of subscribers in Brest and the surrounding area were left without telephones for a long period. This nightmare scenario came about nearly a fortnight ago. During the weekend of 21 and 22 August, unidentified individuals entered the labyrinth comprising the buildings of the Post Office and France Telecom, between the Rue de Siam, Algeciras Street and Duquesne Street.
The intruders entered the premises through the archway of Algeciras street. At night there is nobody in these huge buildings. The central postal sorting centre no longer exists. The vandals took a walk in the premises. They ransacked an empty room, pulling out false ceilings, emptying the fire extinguishers.
According to information received, the vandals entered a room that houses a huge switch [commutator] of France Telecom. This device is used to link two correspondents. The commutator served about 70,000 subscribers.
The director does not confirm the figure of 70,000 subscribers, but refers to "switches that include other switches upstream". The central Algeciras street is called "sensitive and important." One thing is certain: both the Post and France Telecom premises were not equipped with alarms.