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NYC Subway System To Get Wireless Coverage...

...If any carriers agree to provide it. It looks as though the MTA is going to allow a company called Transit Wireless to put up a network in the city's subway stations, but none of the major carriers has ponied up any cash for their service to be available underground.

I know what you're thinking. The last thing anyone riding the subway wants is the added cacophony of ringing cellphones and annoyingly loud personal conversations blurted for all to hear. Be grateful, then, that the service will be limited to the subway stations themselves, and not in the tunnels through which the subway cars travel.

Here's how it will work.

Transit Wireless will likely be granted permission to build the underground networks by the MTA next week. It will pay the city some $47 million in licensing fees and then an additional $150 to $200 million to actually build out the networks. Then, Transit Wireless will permit providers such as AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless to use its system to enable service to their customers in the subway stations. So far, none of the carriers has indicated any interest.

The whole affair is far from a done deal and will take years to complete if voted through.

What do you think? Should NYC allow this to happen, and do you think the wireless carriers will eventually want their service available to NYCers underground? Will it be a nuisance, or a godsend?

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