The news that London Underground will soon get mobile connectivity is a great boost to the city. The Tube was the world’s first mass transit and a trailblazer for the systems that followed. It seems strange therefore that London’s imitators have been quicker to implement mobile phone systems. Some cities – Tokyo and Seoul for example – have extensive cellular networks and others metropolitan areas – New York and Toronto – are catching up.
But it’s London’s antiquity that may yet prove to be a sticking point for installing new technology. Built in Victorian times, the system still largely has infrastructure dating from this period, which adds to the difficulty of implementing a mobile system. If you throw in the fact that the tunnels can be very narrow and some are especially deep, then you have to have an expert strategy for deploying a mobile network.
In this article by Maxwell Cooter of TechRadar PRO, BAI Communications UK Director of Engineering, Andrew Conway, explores the challenges of putting a world-class mobile network underground. Read more in the full article here.
