Rogers working with Bell, Telus to expand TTC cell service in early October

It’s been more than a month since Rogers launched the first phase of enhanced cellphone service for its customers in the TTC subway system, and now Bell and Telus customers are set to receive the same access by Tuesday.

The development comes more than two weeks after federal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne directed Rogers to make arrangements to give access to the major telecommunications companies until separate infrastructure could be built and that all major carriers provide service to passengers.

The federal government intervened and moved to change the licences of wireless carriers to mandate universal access on the TTC by Tuesday after the companies failed to reach an agreement due to disagreements on the approach to building the system.

Ron McKenzie, the chief technology and information officer for Rogers Communications, said his staff have been working with Bell and Telus to meet the deadline, noting Rogers staff collectively logged roughly 10,000 hours in three weeks and brought forward a solution.

“This solution that we were able to bring together is leveraging the investment that we have been making over the last six months to upgrade the legacy infrastructure to be able to deliver 5G services,” he told CityNews.

RELATED: Rogers ordered to open TTC wireless network to all carriers, minister says

When the new, enhanced service by Rogers launched on Aug. 23, technological crews worked to improve and expand wireless spectrum access and began building three facilities across Toronto with antennas to act as connection hubs for all the wiring below ground.

Now engineers from Rogers, Bell and Telus are working to implement a “multi-operator core network.” Extra hardware was added by Rogers in addition to various network testing being done by staff from the involved carriers.

“It essentially leverages a common radio and then pulls their customer traffic back to their core network. All that is running on the investment that we’ve made over the last six months,” McKenzie said.

It all comes after months of sniping between the three major wireless companies. CityNews contacted Bell and Telus to ask about each company’s plans for launching service and how the process is going.

“In line with the conditions of licence as communicated by Minister Champagne on Sept. 11, we’re expecting that Bell and Virgin customers will have service on the TTC starting October 3,” Bell spokesperson Éliane Légaré wrote in a statement.

“The Telus team is working around the clock to ensure that our network is ready to deliver safe and reliable service to all TTC riders by Oct. 3,” Telus spokesperson Martin Nguyen said.

CityNews asked McKenzie about the negotiations with the other companies and what still needs to be done.

“This immediate solution that we’re bringing to life is built on the investment that we’ve made over the last six months to be ready. So working alongside the fellow operators is really leveraging the infrastructure,” he said.

“From a collaboration standpoint, we’ll always as technologists, we serve Canadians. At Rogers, our job and our goal is to serve Canadians.”

RELATED: Rogers unveils 1st phase of cell service on TTC subways, improved 911 access for all riders

Meanwhile, Bell, Telus and Freedom Mobile face a Dec. 20 deadline to reach commercial agreements with Rogers about financial terms.

Under the current setup, riders have full 5G capabilities in all the stations and tunnels of the ‘lower-U’ of the subway system (St. George south to Union, north to Bloor-Yonge and west to St. George). Also, stations between Keele and Castle Frank, plus Spadina and Dupont, will have 5G service at platform level and in station corridors.

McKenzie said there’s still much to do on the technological side.

“We’ll be continuing to work with the TTC to expand the areas and platforms so that the whole system is covered,” he said.

“Next up, we’ll be expanding to other parts of the system and then once we’ve completed that we’ll start to expand the coverage for tunnels.”

Rogers Communications is the parent company of CityNews.

With files from The Canadian Press