Mobile phone coverage in the Channel Tunnel is now available for Eurostar and Le Shuttle customers travelling between France and England. Coverage in the opposite direction - from England to France - is due to be launched by UK network operators later this year.
The northbound service has been introduced by Eurotunnel and French mobile network operators Bouygues Telecom, Orange and SFR. It uses a GSM-P optical fibre system for 2G and 3G connectivity with equipment developed by Alcatel-Lucent. The technology has been installed under the English Channel between Folkestone and Calais in just 10 months.
Jean-Luc Vuillemin, Technical Director for Networks and Services at France Telecom-Orange, said “We are proud to have taken part in a project as ambitious as this, both in terms of schedule and in terms of the conditions for its execution as well as the technological challenges to be met. For the network to be up and running at the same time as the 2012 Olympic Games required great commitment by Orange's technical teams.”
We recently spoke to Ian Brown from Axell Wireless about the challenges of introducing mobile phone coverage on underground railways. Listen to the podcast interview using our built-in audio player or by downloading the MP3 file.
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