The cable break that occurred on two fiber optic cables connecting Finland and Sweden on the evening of December 2 was initially suspected to be a new sabotage incident following the cable break near Nord Stream.
However, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) said that these two cable breaks appeared to be "normal incidents" during the "construction" process.
Nordic digital infrastructure provider GlobalConnect said two land cables connecting Finland and Sweden broke in Finland on the evening of December 2, causing major disruption.
However, after an investigation, Finnish police confirmed that "there is no suspicion of any criminal act in either case as the damage was caused by digging activities".
According to Traficom, 6,000 households and about 100 businesses were affected by the latest cable break. GlobalConnect said nearly all customers have been reconnected.
Samuli Bergstrom, director of Traficom's Cyber Security Center, said one cable was severed by a mining rig due to a "maintenance incident." Traficom also said both severed cables have been repaired.
The cable break comes two weeks after two telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea - one connecting the Swedish island of Gotland with Lithuania, and one connecting Finland with Germany near the Nord Stream pipeline - were severed in suspected sabotage.
The authorities of Finland, Sweden and Lithuania have set up a team to investigate the cable break with the support of Eurojust - the European Union's criminal justice agency.
According to ship tracking websites, suspicion centers on the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3, which passed through two cables around the time of the cable break.
The Yi Peng 3 has remained anchored in the Kattegat Strait between Sweden and Denmark since November 19, under the supervision of coast guard and naval vessels from Denmark, Germany and Sweden.
Sweden wants the Chinese ship to move to Swedish waters to "find out exactly what happened".
