Metro plans to upgrade wireless service in rail system
By: Kytja Weir
Examiner Staff Writer
March 2, 2009
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More Metrorail riders could soon be able to make cell phone calls, Websurf and eventually watch streaming video while underground as part of a possible deal with four major wireless phone carriers.
Metro’s board of directors has agreed to negotiate with national carriers Sprint Nextel, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless to extend and improve wireless service in the rail system as early as this year.
Yet as of late Friday, both sides confirmed, no contract had been signed.
Such a deal would mark a big change for riders who have been shut out from using cell phones in the underground tunnels unless they had Verizon service or roamed onto the network with Sprint. According to the agency, it would also enhance the existing service to include Wi-Fi and reduce dead spots.
“We obviously think the customers will be excited,” said Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein.
Still, the proposed $40 million contract would be spread over 21 years and would not immediately relieve the cash-strapped agency as it struggles to close a nearly $30 million shortfall in the budget that begins July 1.
Farbstein said the transit agency would likely receive about $500,000 to help plug the current gap. In subsequent years, she said, they expect to make $2 million annually.
But that is significantly more than Metro has received in its current contract. The agency has been paid $20,000 a year to let Verizon offer its service underground, Farbstein said.
In 1993, Metro agreed to allow Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems, which later became Verizon Wireless, to build a wireless network in the underground system in exchange for a public safety radio communications network.
This time, the wireless companies will build their own network but also a second wireless network for Metro’s operations and public safety communications.
The move also would help Metro tap into $1.5 billion in dedicated federal funding that is linked to the transit agency having wireless communications throughout the rail system by 2012, according to the board resolution.
Under that plan, the new networks would extend to the 20 busiest stations — which includes Ballston, Bethesda and Metro Center — by October. The rest of the system would be finished by October 2012.
The work would not disrupt train service, Farbstein said, as it would occur during other track work or at night. Yet the expansion would mean a new level of noise in the rail system.
Some train services have “quiet” cars in which riders agree not to gab away on cell phones. But Metro has no plans to start any cell phone-free railcars, Farbstein said, citing the difficulty of enforcing such a rule.
