The MTA yesterday announced a 10-year agreement with AT&T and T-Mobile to provide cell and WiFi service in several Manhattan subway stations by the end of 2011 — a year earlier than expected.

The first stations, all in Chelsea, include: 14th Street and Sixth Avenue on the F, M and L lines; 14th Street and Eighth Avenue on the A, C, E and L lines; 23rd Street and Eighth Avenue on the C and E lines; and 14th Street and Seventh Avenue on the 1, 2 and 3, lines.

The plan will provide service in stations and on platforms, although there won’t be any wiring that ensures cell-phone or WiFi use on the actual trains themselves or in the tunnels, officials said.

The move “will give you [some] basic service that customers are used to above ground,’ said Chris Jaeger, CEO of Transit Wireless, the company orchestrating the project. “The network is designed to be able to take all carriers. Our aim is to have all carriers involved.”

Only T-Mobile or AT&T customers would received a signal, but other mobile providers are expected to sign on.

It is unclear whether customers will have to pay extra for the service. That will be up to the service providers, the MTA said.

The entire project to wire all 277 underground stations will cost Transit Wireless an estimated $200 million, on top of the $46 million fee that it paid to the MTA for the rights to do it.

Officials hope all stations will be have cell phone service by 2016.

(Read More: NY Post)