EE and Vodafone UK Extend 4G Mobile to 6 New London Underground Stations

Broadband and mobile operators EE (BT) and Vodafone have announced that they’ve extended their 4G network on the London Underground to include six more stations, covering parts of the Central and Northern lines, which reflects a partnership with BAI Communications. This builds on their already live coverage on the eastern half of the Jubilee Line.

At present, BAI holds a 20-year concession deal with Transport for London (TfL), which was signed in June 2021 (here) and allows them to build the new 4G mobile infrastructure itself and to then make it available via wholesale for Mobile Network Operators (MNO) to harness. The goal of this is to cover the entire London Underground with the new network by late 2024 (ticket halls, platforms and tunnels).

The neutral host distributed antenna system (DAS) network, which will end up being supported by hundreds of kilometres of fibre optic cable laid in tunnels for data capacity (fitted outside operational hours), was first trialled on the Jubilee Line (eastern half of the line). The first new sections beyond that are now starting to go live.

As a result of that, EE has this morning announced that six new Underground stations have just been added to their live coverage, including Holland Park, Notting Hill Gate, Queensway, Archway, Tufnell Park and Kentish Town. The latter three aren’t quite live yet, but they will follow over the next week. It’s a similar story for Vodafone, which has also gone live in the same areas today.

Following further testing over the Christmas period, this will then be extended to additional stations – including Camden Town, Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus in the new year.

Greg McCall, Chief Networks Officer at BT, said:

“We’re delighted to be at the forefront of such a transformative project, supporting BAI in delivering what will ultimately be the largest and most advanced network of its type anywhere in the world, and one which aligns with our ongoing mission to digitise the UK through major investment in, and enhancement of, our mobile and fibre networks. It’s also yet another milestone in our ambition to deliver high-speed 4G and 5G EE mobile connectivity to as much of the UK as possible, including previously unreachable locations.”

EE next intends to rollout to a host of additional stations throughout 2023 and, by the end of 2024, customers will be able to enjoy access to 4G across the entirety of the London Underground, as well as the Elizabeth line, with 5G available at the “vast majority of locations“. But EE and Vodafone are only the first to announce this, while O2 and Three UK will no doubt be doing the same very soon.

We should add that BTWholesale is also providing BAI with premium data centre space in London, along with high-bandwidth connectivity, while using 100% renewable power for all sites. All UK mobile operators are able to co-locate their equipment within these data centres, with BTW operating and managing the sites as a neutral party.

UPDATE 11:17am

We’ve updated the article to reflect the fact that Vodafone has just made an almost identical announcement, although they didn’t send us a press release like EE.