TFL Freezes Plans For Mobile Phones On London Underground

Transport for London has announced that it will freeze plans to offer mobile phone services to the millions of passengers travelling every day on the underground sections of the Tube.

A spokesperson for TFL said that "London Underground tendered for a trial of mobile phones on the Waterloo and City line but the market has yet to provide us with a credible proposal for enabling mobile phone use on the Tube."

She added that "While it is technically possible to deploy mobile phone and data wireless solutions on the deep level Underground tunnels and stations, the unique nature and environment of the Tube mean that project costs would be prohibitively high at this time." 

The fact that there will be less people on the tube combined with the reluctance of mobile networks to shell out money for grandiose projects and the end of Tube contractor Metronet means that mobile phones on the tube won't be a reality for a foreseeable future (ed: much to the pleasure of more than few of us).

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The feasibility research into rolling out mobile phones on the tube started four years ago in March 2005 and according to Silicon, it took two years only to get through the trial process.

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