Mobile signals trial aims to end London Tube’s status as Europe’s biggest ‘not-spot’

A TRIAL of mobile signals on London’s Tube network is poised to begin on the Waterloo and City Line, as authorities attempt to bring coverage to Europe’s biggest “not-spot”.

The work is expected to be announced today by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, as part of a package of measures designed to improve the capital’s digital connectivity.

It is understood that Transport for London (TFL) is working with the Chinese telecoms equipment manufacturer Huawei on the trial. Mobile operators will take it in turns to test their networks underground for a week, conducting engineering overnight and at the weekends when the Waterloo and City Line is closed.

The trial has not yet begun and industry sources said preparations were making “slow progress”. It is the latest of several attempts to introduce mobile coverage on the Tube, all of which have failed for technical, commercial or logistical reasons.

The project has gained new impetus from the planned replacement of the emergency services communications system, Airwave, by EE’S mobile network. Engineers must tackle challenges including the extra heat generated by telecoms signalling equipment and the Tube’s unusually narrow, deep tunnels.

The trial is expected to lead to a contract tender to deploy mobile infrastructure across the entire network at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds.

The funding model has not been finalised, with operators concerned that TFL expects to make too much money from them. Mr Khan is also expected to launch a new task force to tackle not-spots above ground.