Huawei plans for London Underground mobile network collapse

Talks between Transport for London (TfL) and several mobile network operators to provide mobile phone coverage on the London Underground have ground to a halt owing to funding problems.

TfL explained in a statement that, because it will not fund the rollout of the network, the companies working on the project - thought to be Vodafone, O2, Everything Everywhere and Three - had to meet this cost, but were unwilling to do so.

"The mayor and TfL made it clear that, given the financial pressures on TfL's budgets, any solution would have to be funded through mobile operators with no cost to fare or taxpayers," TfL said.

"The parties were not able to agree a viable proposal, and the project is therefore not being progressed at this time."

Chinese network equipment manufacturer Huawei had offered to provide equipment worth up to £100m to help with the rollout as a gift from one Olympic host nation to another, but it appears that the installation costs still remain too high for the operators.

Vodafone confirmed that the talks had halted, but hoped that a workaround may be reached in the future.

"We are disappointed that it will not be possible to deliver such services in time for next year's Olympic Games. As a group, we will continue to positively explore all other avenues available to us in order to provide a service at a later date," the company said.

The news will please most V3.co.uk readers, however, who had argued that the Tube network is noisy enough already without people being able to make phone calls. Others feared that it could increase the terrorism threat underground.

However, plans to bring Wi-Fi to 120 stations are going ahead which will give tube travellers access to the internet when waiting for trains on the platform.