London Underground (LU) has announced that it is to undertake a six-month trial of mobile phone and new technology services on the Waterloo & City line which runs between two stations under the river Thames. The key aim of the trial is to conclude whether it is technically and commercially viable for coverage to be extended across the Tube network. The trial, which will start in April 2008 at the earliest, will make mobile phone coverage available on the Waterloo & City platforms at Bank and Waterloo stations.
Coverage will also extend to tunnels between the two stations.
Richard Parry, LU Strategy and Service Development Director, said: "The below ground sections of the Underground are one of the few places in London where you are unable to use a mobile phone. We recognise that there is now growing demand for mobile coverage to be extended to deep-level sections of the Tube."
"Should the trial prove a technical and commercial success, then London Underground will consider how to provide mobile phone and telecommunications services across the Tube network."
"If the trial is not a success then London Underground will not proceed with plans to extend mobile phone coverage to the Tube."
The Waterloo & City line has been selected for the six-month trial of mobile phone coverage as it is characterised by deep-level tunnels that are unconnected to the rest of the Tube network thereby providing a confined environment for a trial to take place.
A recent LU survey has shown that 56 per cent of passengers would support being able to use a mobile phone in all parts of the Tube network, including trains and stations, if it was available.
When LU originally announced in March 2005 that it was seeking expressions of interest from potential suppliers for mobile phone coverage on the Tube it was on the basis that coverage in tunnels would be excluded. A feasibility study undertaken last year found that having many thousands of mobile phones coming in and out of signal as passengers traveled between coverage zones at stations, and kept dropping signals in tunnels would overload the phone networks.
The feasibility study was undertaken as the original consultation with suppliers identified that the sheer complexity of introducing such a system needed to be fully understood due to the unique physical and environmental constraints which the Tube presents. LU will use the opportunity presented by the six-month trial to undertake a comprehensive survey of customer attitudes towards mobile phone coverage on the Tube.
This will inform LU's final decision on whether to proceed with extending coverage across the Tube network. Fifty-five per cent of the Tube network is above ground and passengers can and already do use their mobile phone on surface sections of the Underground.
If the trial is a success then LU will engage in a full tendering process to select a contractor to provide mobile phone and new technology services such as DAB digital radio and Internet access.
It is envisaged that a private sector company or consortium would invest in, install, operate, maintain and manage the infrastructure in exchange for an agreed revenue stream and any financial benefit would be reinvested in Tube improvements.
The earliest date that mobile phone and new technology coverage could be extended across the Tube network is mid-2009."
Posted to the site on 22nd March 2007
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/22724.php