Tube 4G and 5G signal now at Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus stations

The first Tube stations in the West End have been equipped with 4G and 5G mobile coverage, Transport for London (TfL) has announced.

4G and 5G is available at Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road ticket halls and on the Central line between the stations.

Further sections of the Northern and Central line will be getting coverage in the coming months.

The project, which is being delivered for the mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL) by Boldyn Networks, is part of a wider rollout to bring high-speed mobile coverage to the entire Tube network by the end of 2024.

All four mobile network operators - Three UK, EE, Vodafone, and Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) - are taking part in the rollout, which has already delivered 4G on sections of the Jubilee, Northern and Central lines.

More than 10% of Tube stations with platforms that are underground, and therefore unable to get a mobile signal, now have 4G and 5G coverage.

By December, 33 stations with underground platforms will have mobile coverage, increasing to 40 in 2024.

It is expected that by the end of 2023, the first Elizabeth line stations will have mobile coverage, with the whole line getting coverage by the end of spring 2024.

Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street will be connected to the high-speed mobile data network by Christmas.

The line’s seven other stations and tunnels between Paddington, Abbey Wood and Stratford will be completed by the end of April.

The rollout to Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road follows Camden Town and Mornington Crescent stations getting high-speed mobile coverage last month.

Customers using the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line at Euston station will also get 4G and 5G coverage in the coming weeks

In the coming months, further stations along the Northern and Central lines such as Goodge Street, Chancery Lane and Bank will get mobile coverage.

Boldyn Networks, the organisation rolling out mobile coverage on the London Underground, will also begin to upgrade the existing coverage on the Jubilee line to allow 5G to be available at stations, such as Canary Wharf and North Greenwich, for the first time.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan tweeted a photo of himself on the Central Line platform at Oxford Circus on Friday morning.

“I am delighted to see the promise I made of delivering 4G and 5G across the London Underground continuing to progress, with West End hubs Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road joining an ever-growing network of lines and stations with full connectivity,” he said.

Andy Lord, London’s Transport Commissioner said: “It’s great to see the first Tube stations in the West End getting high-speed mobile coverage on their phones within the station, as part of the next stage of our project with Boldyn Networks to bring 4G and 5G to the whole Tube network.

“More stations, including the first Elizabeth line stations, will be connected in the coming months and we remain committed to having a significant proportion of the entire Tube network connected by the end of 2024.”

About 500 people are working overnight across the Tube network to install mobile equipment. Once the rollout is completed, more than 2,000km (1,240 miles) of cabling as well as thousands of radios will be installed within tunnels and stations.