Buried in a NY Post story about Airbus was developing a way for cellphones to be used on planes and not interfere with the plane's systems comes the tidbit that the MTA is abandoning plans to put cellphone service in the subways. The MTA wanted $51 million from cellphone carriers to fund the wiring of tunnels, but the carriers backed out. The MTA admits, "It would cost too much money." Gothamist has mixed feelings about cellphone service in the subway - sometimes we feel it's a nice solace, other times we're desperate to know why we cannot get through to our friends - but we think this is a bad move by cellphone carriers who want to further entrench their brands in the hearts of New Yorkers.
The Mayor's Accountability Report noted that looking for interested cellphone providers was launched this year - time to change the status as "Killed."
