Joining such advanced metropolises as Berlin, Paris, and Hong Kong, New York City said it will move forward with the long-delayed project to equip subways with wireless Internet access. The cellular and Wi-Fi connections will encompass the stations, the platforms, and some portion of the tunnels on the NYC Transit system.
The project has been delayed for years due to funding issues with Transit Wireless LLC, the group of networking and construction companies that originally contracted to build out the subway network back in 2007. Transit Wireless has received new funding from an Australian company, Broadcast Australia, that has been involved in several wireless network build-outs for public transit systems.
Among those build-outs was the Hong Kong metro, known as the Mass Transit Railway (MTR), which now has one of the most sophisticated public-transit wireless networks in the world. That project was headed by Radio Frequency Engineering Ltd., a subsidiary of Broadcast Australia.
Over the last few years several U.S. cities have tested or planned wireless systems for their public transit systems, but relatively few are actually operating. Last year the Washington, D.C. Metro said it will install wireless infrastructure in its system from the Big Four U.S. carriers. That network will take four years to build out.
Already at three years and counting, the New York City system may take even longer. Transit Wireless has two years to outfit six initial stops under the terms of the contract, and will deploy the rest of the network at a rate of 10 to 15 a month. New York City’s five boroughs have more than 270 underground subway stations.
