T-Mobile: London Underground Mobile Plan Too Slow,Complex"
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- T-Mobile International AG (TMO.YY) Tuesday argued that passengers on London Underground train stations should be able to receive and make mobile phone calls much sooner than Transport for London envisages.
The mobile operator also called for a commitment to offer mobile phone services in tunnels, not just stations, and questioned Transport for London's plans to tender work to third-party contractors to build mobile phone infrastructure.
Transport for London, which controls the London Underground train network, Tuesday said that mobile phone services will be provided at stations across the network from the summer of 2008 with contracts to be issued by the end of 2007.
T-Mobile, the mobile arm of Deutsche Telekom AG (DT), welcomed the move but questioned the process and timetable Transport for London has set. It noted that there has been no commitment to provide services in tunnels and that the services are only scheduled to be trialed at one station by mid-2006.
T-Mobile is one of the five companies that own a mobile network in the U.K. Those companies, which include O2 PLC (OOM.LN) and Vodafone Group PLC (VOD), have been negotiating with Transport for London regarding the provision of mobile services across London's train network.
Brian McBride, managing director of T-Mobile U.K., said in a statement that T-Mobile wants to provide mobile services on the tube - both at stations and in tunnels - "as soon as possible."
He said that the work to provide these services can be undertaken much faster than proposed under Transport for London's plan.
McBride also questioned Transport for London's plans to tender the infrastructure build to third-party providers when it is themobile operators that will invest in the network build.
He argued that mobile network operators will fund the provision of mobile phone services on the London Underground and will pay rent on mobile infrastructure sites which will provide funds for investment in transport services. He said that provisioning third parties to rollout the infrastructure will unnecessarily increase costs.
Company Web site: Http://www.tmobile.com
-By Nic Fildes, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9264; nicolas.fildes@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 31st May 2005
