The New York Times has more on the city's decision to build a wireless voice and data network for the underground subway system. If all goes according to plan, that means your cellphone will work underground sometime within the next decade, just like it already works in Hong Kong and Seoul. The MTA is already starting to solicit bids for a 10-year contract that will be worth anywhere from $50 million to $100 million. All the usual suspects -- Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile - are lining up at the public trough, hoping to win the mandate from the MTA. Final bids are due October 12, so that gives these companies about 6 weeks to come up with the winning bid.

Gothamist weighs in on the announcement with a bit of amusement:

"The possibility of using cell phones underground leads to many questions: Will cell phone kiosks start popping up underground? Will illegal vendors peddling their wares now include ones selling cell phone tchotchkes? Will the kids "selling" M&Ms for their school basketball teams be unwitting victims of straphangers yapping on the cell phones? Will there be even more cell phone thefts? And yes, our ears, our ears! We'll be subjected to those travelogues we hear on surface trains and as soon planes land, "Yeah, I just landed...wanted to see what was up... yeah, the flight was okay..."