Arelion's BCS East subsea cable was damaged on January 2, 2026.

As reported by Total Telecom, the Swedish telco confirmed the damage over the weekend, though whether it was caused by an accident or intentionally sabotaged remains unclear.

According to reports, the damage seems to have been caused by a ship passing over the cable a few kilometers from its landing station in Liepāja, Latvia. The ship initially sailed over an inactive cable before changing course and heading towards BCS East.

The police in Latvia have commenced an investigation, while Arvis Zile, head of the crisis management center at Arelion, said that they cannot "speculate on the reasons yet."

"After conducting analysis and digital measurements, the company does not rule out any version at this time," Zile said.

Repairs are currently underway, and Arelion expects them to be completed within a week or two.

The ship in question, meanwhile, is docked in Liepāja and was boarded by police and the Latvian coast guard on Sunday evening. According to Total Telecom, it has not been detained, and the crew is cooperating.

This is not the first subsea cable issue Arelion has suffered. In November 2024, its BCS East-West Interlink cable, which connected Sweden and Lithuania, was cut. At the same time, a second cable was damaged - the C-Lion1 Helsinki-Rostock cable - and both were thought to have been damaged by a Chinese bulk carrier.

In January 2025, a Latvia-Sweden subsea cable was damaged in the Baltic Sea, and at the start of this month, Finnish police revealed they had detained a crew suspected of damaging a subsea cable between Helsinki and Tallinn in Estonia that was owned by Elisa.

In 2025, NATO launched the Baltic Sentry program to protect against attacks on subsea energy and data cables in the Baltic Sea.