Virgin Media Tube Wi-Fi: 82 stations named
Londoners are on track to get Wi-Fi access in around 80 underground stations, with the first to include King's Cross, Oxford Circus, London Bridge, Leicester Square and Liverpool Street.
Virgin Media, providers of the Wi-Fi service, announced the first 82 stations that it plans to switch on by the end of July on Friday.
"In partnership with TfL, we've been working around-the-clock to install and test Wi-Fi on London Underground and are about to connect some iconic and world famous Tube stations with a Wi-Fi service London will be proud of," Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, said in a statement.
The company won the contract to provide the service, which will be free for non-customers and its home broadband subscibers alike during the summer, in March. It has not announced how much the service will cost non-subcribers after this point.
Coverage of the service is limited to concourses, escalators and platforms and will not reach into the tunnels.
By the end of the year Virgin Media hopes to have Wi-Fi access in place in around 120 London Underground stations.
"Bringing a next-generation Wi-Fi service to one of the world's oldest underground transport networks is progressing as planned and the forthcoming service is testing well," Gareth Powell, director of strategy at London Underground, said in a statement.
"The first stations include some of our busiest and most well-known destinations and we're on track for a successful launch this summer — all delivered at no additional cost to fare payers or tax payers," he added.
The company has not yet announced when the service will go live and is currently testing it in Chancery Lane station.