EE joins O2 and Vodafone in trial to provide 4G on the London Underground

The aim is to have 4G coverage across London Underground by the mid-2020s 
The main mobile network operators will be providing 4G on the London Underground as part of a trial next year
TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images
Amelia Heathman23 December 2019

EE has become the third mobile operator in the UK to sign up to provide 4G on the London Underground as part of a trial taking place in partnership with Transport for London (TfL) in March 2020.

Along with O2 and Vodafone, the operator will bring 4G connectivity to a segment of the Jubilee Line covering the platforms and tunnels between Westminster and Canning Town.

As well as actually being able to access a 4G signal in the carriages, EE says the trial service will also cover connectivity across the ticket halls and corridors within stations along this section of the Jubilee Line, apart from London Bridge and Waterloo which may be added later during 2020.

Speaking about the announcement, BT’s CEO of its consumer division which covers EE, Marc Allera, said: “We are delighted to formally join the TfL 4G on the Underground trial, connecting our customers between Westminster and Canning Town. This trial is the start of a huge step forward for London.”

Over the next few months, the mobile operators will be working with TfL to install the 4G technology across the line. Engineers are laying hundreds of miles of cabling as part of the trial, which needs to be done outside of operational hours so as not to disrupt the service.

TfL and the mobile operators will use the period to gain experience of providing mobile connectivity on the underground, with the aim of achieving full connectivity across the rest of the tube network by the mid-2020s.

For now, the network operators will be providing 4G connectivity at the trial stations, however, the network will be future-proofed with a view to providing 5G connectivity at some point. 5G is faster, smarter and more efficient than 4G — in particular, it can handle more people on the network than 4G, making it useful for busy parts of the network such as tube stations.

There already is 5G connectivity at rail stations across the TfL network, just not the underground ones. EE customers travelling through the main Waterloo station, Liverpool Street and Charing Cross can now access 5G, as well as at the overground stations of Highbury and Islington, New Cross Gate and Shoreditch High Street.

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