Chinese firm Huawei is bidding to provide £50m-worth of telecommunications equipment to the UK to create a mobile network in London's Tube underground rail network.
According to the Sunday Times the network is likely to be installed in time to the Olympics, which will be held in London next year. Vodafone and O2 are expected to foot the bill for installation of the network, while Huawei, which plans to give the equipment to the UK free of charge as a gift from one Olympic nation to another, expects to earn income from maintenance fees.
Huawei was unable to comment on the project but confirmed it was part of the bidding process. "The UK is an important market for Huawei," the company told the Financial Times.
"Transport for London (TfL) and the Mayor of London are currently in discussion with mobile phone operators and other suppliers about the potential provision of mobile phone services on the deep Tube network," said a TfL spokesman.
"Given the financial pressures on TfL's budgets, any solution would need to be funded through mobile operators with no cost to fare or taxpayers. Discussions are ongoing."
The network would ensure Londoners can make calls and access the web from their smartphone handsets while travelling on the underground. Offering a mobile network has been something that's been discussed for some time. However, the cost of installing the necessary equipment has long been seen as a barrier.
Last year, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, revealed he wants mobile signals extended to the London's underground network in time for the Olympics in 2012. Hitting this target may prove difficult, as no trials of the service have even taken place yet. In 2009, TfL scrapped a six-month trial that would have seen mobile signals available on the Waterloo & City line due to high costs.
However, commuters at Charing Cross have been given a trial Wi-Fi connection in the ticket hall and platforms at the underground station in a six-month scheme, which is taking place in conjunction with BT. Huawei's equipment is already being used in this trial.
Richard Thurston, an analyst with Ovum, welcomed the news.
"Finally there is progress on these much-delayed plans to mobile-enable the London Underground. The project has been delayed for years because of revenue sharing, infrastructure sharing and installation challenges. Most of those challenges remain, and we expect this project will continue to prove troublesome. It is unlikely that the underground portions of the mobile network will all be fully operational by 2012," he said.
However, Thurston said the contract "is certainly no gift from China".
"It gives Huawei yet another commercial foot in the door in Western markets from which it should be able to build to secure further contracts. Huawei is already succeeding at overcoming the cultural issues faced by its transition from a Chinese to a global company and it has already won widespread deals with mobile network operators."
Thuston added that the suspicion that Huawei’s award of large UK contracts masks a security threat is overstated.
"While the threat of cybersecurity is usually underestimated, it would be extremely difficult for a cybersecurity attack to be launched using just one vendor’s equipment. Instead, successful cybersecurity attacks require a co-ordinated multi-faceted assault on UK critical national infrastructure."
See also: O2 mobile phones to work on underground
Richard Thurston, Ovum analyst:
“Finally there is progress on these much-delayed plans to mobile-enable the London Underground. The project has been delayed for years because of revenue sharing, infrastructure sharing and installation challenges. Most of those challenges remain, and we expect this project will continue to prove troublesome. It is unlikely that the underground portions of the mobile network will all be fully operational by 2012.
Richard Thurston, Ovum analyst:
“Finally there is progress on these much-delayed plans to mobile-enable the London Underground. The project has been delayed for years because of revenue sharing, infrastructure sharing and installation challenges. Most of those challenges remain, and we expect this project will continue to prove troublesome. It is unlikely that the underground portions of the mobile network will all be fully operational by 2012.
“The contract is certainly no gift from China: it gives Huawei yet another commercial foot in the door in Western markets from which it should be able to build to secure further contracts. Huawei is already succeeding at overcoming the cultural issues faced by its transition from a Chinese to a global company and it has already won widespread deals with mobile network operators. The suspicion that Huawei’s award of large UK contracts masks a security threat is overstated. While the threat of cybersecurity is usually underestimated, it would be extremely difficult for a cybersecurity attack to be launched using just one vendor’s equipment. Instead, successful cybersecurity attacks require a co-ordinated multi-faceted assault on UK critical national infrastructure.
“The benefits of the new network are more significant than the threats. The London Underground has been one of the UK’s worst mobile blackspots and is almost unique among major European city metro networks in not having mobile coverage. Now Londoners can look forward to being more productive on the move. This network will bring real and measurable economic benefits that the UK badly needs.”
“The contract is certainly no gift from China: it gives Huawei yet another commercial foot in the door in Western markets from which it should be able to build to secure further contracts. Huawei is already succeeding at overcoming the cultural issues faced by its transition from a Chinese to a global company and it has already won widespread deals with mobile network operators. The suspicion that Huawei’s award of large UK contracts masks a security threat is overstated. While the threat of cybersecurity is usually underestimated, it would be extremely difficult for a cybersecurity attack to be launched using just one vendor’s equipment. Instead, successful cybersecurity attacks require a co-ordinated multi-faceted assault on UK critical national infrastructure.
“The benefits of the new network are more significant than the threats. The London Underground has been one of the UK’s worst mobile blackspots and is almost unique among major European city metro networks in not having mobile coverage. Now Londoners can look forward to being more productive on the move. This network will bring real and measurable economic benefits that the UK badly needs.”
Comments
Rich said: Who wants phones on the tube anyway You want to talk on the phone and annoy everyone catch a bus
Tin Tin Rob said: There was a good article about this in the times online of March 29 2009 Worth a read if you think my prev post is rubbish Seems like we bought into these deals during the Labour dynasty of course BT twisted their arm to help finance buying Brit kit but Labour said no as it was anti-competitive at the expense of our own workers I think we should rip out the huwai stuff chuck it in the sea and put secure kit back in save a lot of tears in the long run but would Camerons penny -pinching bunch countenance it they seem to be more gung-ho about ignoring lots of other rulings so why not industrial data is worth more than anything to china at the moment they need new products to keep the momentum of their expansion going Very foresighted of them to provide BT with the routers which control all the data into and out of the Uk
TinTin Rob said: Huawei already control the flow of data into and out of the country via managing all the Huawei infrastructure routers These are remotely managed from China Huawei is controlled by the military in China - you cant say it isnt considering that it is run by an ex mil himself and state control reaches into everything perhaps the biggest risk is not that of cyberterror or a stuxnet type of attack but of the unavoidable export of industrial know-how to China eg nothing you put through the web is hidden from them any more thanks to BTs tie up with them to get a cheap deal on the infrastructure This looks like more of the same I may sound a bit cynical about this but if you want to keep your business data secret dont use the web or the new data and voice network on the Tube Stick to pigeons instead
billy biscuit said: We already have this available in newcastle in our nexus metro system and have so for a few years now