BAI Canada’s CEO Ken Ranger says there is very little work left to do” in signal and network upgrades in Toronto’s TTC subway system and the company is just waiting for the carriers to get on board.
“There’s actually very little work left to do. There’s some commissioning and testing work,” Ranger said to the CBC.
But right now, only Shaw’s Freedom Mobile has agreed to a contract with BAI. The carrier began working to bring service to the subway in 2015. The network is built on infrastructure installed by Australian network operator BAI; it won a $25 million bid to provide Wi-Fi and cellular service in the TTC.
“To date, unlike our New York office where we have Verizon-AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, here in Toronto only Freedom Mobile has taken us up on the offer,” Ranger said.
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. The challenge BAI has faced is bringing the carriers on board.
For a while now, Bell and Rogers have said they would rather like to install their own system and work off of what was done in Montreal.
The Big 3 and Quebec’s Vidéotron partnered and built a network system that rolled out in Montreal’s STM.
“Bell and other Canadian carriers look forward to building the wireless infrastructure required to serve customers in the Toronto subway system, but we have been denied access to do so,” Bell said in a statement to the CBC.
To the CBC, Rogers said it wanted to partner with other carriers to expand the network.
Telus declined to provide a comment to CBC.
Source: CBC Via: iPhone in Canada
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
