Mayor pledges 4G coverage for London Underground tunnels

The days of being uncontactable while commuting in the capital will soon come to an end if the Mayor has his way, with Sadiq Khan promising Londoners will be able to use the mobile phones on the Underground within two years.

Khan set a 2019 deadline for 4G coverage to be installed in Tube tunnels for the first time, in a bid to eliminate some of what he called the city’s largest “not-spots”.

The plan, if fully implemented, would allow passengers full access to mobile networks while below ground, which would bring London into line with the mass transit systems of other global metropolises.

At present, passengers on certain mobile networks can connect to high speed WiFi services provided by Virgin Media, but only at stations, leaving the tunnels as entirely dead spots for connectivity.

Previous attempts to extend connectivity into the darkness has been met with technical issues, as many of the capital’s ‘deep-level’ tunnels are made of iron, which has made it hard for engineers to contain and direct signals from the various cell sites.

The Mayor’s plan was outlined in a letter delivered to the leaders of London’s 33 local authorities.

Tenders for the contract to install the technology were expected to be released by City Hall shortly, with testing expected to take place on the short Waterloo & City line when it is closed at night and on Sundays.

The new Elizabeth line will be the first subterranean railway in London to have full mobile coverage when it opens in late 2018, as its concrete tunnels have been fitted with the appropriate transceivers as part of the Crossrail project.