Freedom Mobile has announced an extension of its LTE coverage in Toronto’s TTC subway.
The carrier, owned by Calgary-based Shaw, extended LTE coverage from King Station to St. Patrick Station.
The added coverage extends the existing tunnel coverage available from Bloor-Yonge Station to King Station.
Currently, Freedom is the only carrier to offer coverage in the TTC subway. Freedom also offers cellular coverage across all station platforms, mezzanines and toll booths.
For a full list of coverage available, check out Freedom Mobile’s Transit Coverage site.
Freedom started working to bring service to the subway in 2015. The network is built on infrastructure installed by Australian network operator BAI Canada. BAI won a $25 million bid to provide Wi-Fi and cellular service in the TTC.
In 2016, MobileSyrup took a tour of the TTC’s underground network. The network infrastructure BAI used is unique, considering it was built for dense traffic and an environment that is constantly moving. However, the bigger challenge is getting the carriers on board.
The network BAI built in the TTC is capable of supporting every licensed carrier in the city of Toronto, CEO Ken Ranger told MobileSyrup.
Freedom has made good use of that adaptability. It added support for its network in stations first and is now working to expand that to tunnels.
Hopefully some of the other carriers get on board and begin rolling out network in the TTC as well.
Freedom has been particularly faithful at expanding service to areas that typically don’t have service. Freedom expanded service to the Dunsmuir Tunnel for the Vancouver SkyTrain in May.
Source: Freedom
