Asbestos cleanup, tight work windows and other TTC delays have slowed the build out of 5G cellular service in Toronto’s subway system, and TTC staff now say they don’t expect Rogers Communications Inc., will be able to meet a federally imposed deadline that looms at the end of this month.
A new report detailing updates on the transit agency’s major projects, which is set to go before a Toronto Transit Commission board meeting next Wednesday, says Rogers’ 5G implementation is at risk of missing targets.
But the document cites issues related to the transit system itself, rather than Rogers’ efforts.
While service has been activated in large chunks of the subway system already, including the busiest stretch of the network located downtown, the two-and-a-half-year project remains ongoing and progress lags in other tunnel sections.
In 2023, the federal government imposed conditions on Rogers and other carriers offering coverage through the Rogers-owned network, which required that voice, text and data services be turned on in 80 per cent of subway tunnels by December 2025, and the entire system a year later.
The TTC report’s updated projections say 70 per cent of tunnels will be completed by the end of this year and 88 per cent by the end of 2026. The commission expects the project to be completed by the second quarter of 2027.
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The report attributes the hold up to a variety of maintenance issues, such as the TTC having to reprioritize workcars and other resources for “state-of-good-repair activities.”
It also highlights the “constrained” windows in which Rogers can carry out its work.
Those efforts have been taking place overnight and during weekend construction windows so as to minimize disruption for subway riders. But cancelled subway closures have slowed the schedule for tunnel “installation and abatement activities,” according to the report.
Meanwhile, the TTC says asbestos removal — which must take place before equipment installation from Eglinton to York Mills stations and Dundas West to Lansdowne stations — has been delayed.
Rogers directed questions about the project delays to the TTC. A spokesperson for the transit agency declined to comment further on the report or expand on the reasons cited for the setback.
For Rogers, the project began in April 2023 when it acquired the cellular network in the subway system from BAI Canada, vowing to upgrade existing infrastructure — which only Freedom Mobile customers had access to since 2015 — and extend it across the subway map.
The company reached a deal with rivals Bell Canada and Telus Corp. later that year, ensuring customers of those carriers could also use the wireless network following tense negotiations and public sparring between the companies. Bell and Telus had wanted a joint build of the TTC’s mobile network using a consortium model similar to that of Montreal’s Metro, rather than the licensing fee model Rogers had proposed.
By late 2023, the wireless network was available to passengers at every subway station, along with downtown tunnels between St. George, Bloor-Yonge and Union stations, and on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre stations.
This past spring, Rogers announced it had turned on cellular service on Line 2 between Kipling and Islington stations and Keele and Dundas West stations, marking the first sections with new coverage as part of the next phase of the project.
Rogers has since continued turning on 5G service as work has been completed, including on Line 1 from Dupont to St. George stations and St. Clair to Davisville stations, plus nine additional stretches between stations along Line 2, according to the report.
Work has not yet begun to activate cellular service on Line 4.
The federal government’s requirements, issued in September 2023, set deadlines for the project as part of new spectrum licence conditions.
A spokesperson for Industry Minister Mélanie Joly did not respond to questions Thursday about the TTC’s new timeline projections.
The TTC report said next steps for the project include the continuation of track-level equipment installation, supporting Rogers with station installation and asbestos abatement, and providing support for testing along the tunnels as work is completed.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
