Mobile data coverage will expand throughout the whole London Underground, starting with popular stations like Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road, Bank, Euston, and Camden Town by the end of 2022. Coverage will continue to expand and will cover the entire tube system, including all stations and tunnels by 2024, London’s mayor Sadiq Khan announced.
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“I promised Londoners that if they re-elected me for a second term as mayor I would deliver 4G throughout the tube network,” Khan said in a statement. “It’s already up and running on the eastern half of the Jubilee line and I’m delighted to announce today that I am fulfilling that commitment and full internet access will be available across the tube, with key central London stations such as Oxford Circus and Euston set to benefit before the end of next year.”
Last year, 4G coverage was added to the eastern half of the Jubilee line between Canning Town and Westminster. The city’s transport authority, Transport for London (TfL), has announced that the mobile infrastructure will include both 4G and 5G coverage, but it would be up to the various telecoms companies to offer the services they wish to.
The pandemic has ravished Transport for London, with ridership of the various transportation services plummeting due to national lockdowns. Even as restrictions were lifted, citizens still chose to hunker down, and ridership hasn’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels. The UK government recently gave a third bailout to TfL worth $5.6 billion. It hopes the new network will bring more revenue and ridership back to the subway system.
The company building the infrastructure, BAI Communications, will be laying over 2,000km of cabling within tunnels and stations. The fibre cabling installed in the London Underground’s tunnels will also connect to buildings and other infrastructure like street lighting and bus stops, allowing small mobile transmitters to be installed and increase coverage.
