Will mobiles on Tube send commuters off the rails?

May I respond to the Voxpop (DW 9 June), which asked for reactions to the news that London Underground is launching mobile phone services. With all due respect to O2’s head of brand, I’m sure it is ‘a match made in heaven’ for mobile service providers, but I suspect it won’t be for the rest of us.

Virgin trains, due to passenger demand, created quiet zones. Will London Underground and the mobile service providers eventually have to provide a similar offer – and how exactly would they manage it?

There are, of course, current ads running for London Underground that ask users to have respect for other people – music noise, eating smelly fast food and so on. Are we to assume that London Underground thinks that it has won this campaign so convincingly that it is time to create a new problem to solve?

Excuse the pun but, ‘London Underground launches mobile phone services, could this be a match made in Hell?’.

Bill Green, Brand manager, Funnel creative, Manchester M4 1LG