A project to introduce mobile phone coverage on the London Underground could be launched with two months, Home Office officials have revealed.

Civil servants leading the roll-out of an ambitious £1.2bn replacement for the national communications network relied upon by hundreds of thousands of police, paramedics and fire crew told MPs they were in negotiations with Transport for London about the project.

The new Emergency Services Network (ESN) will replace the current, bespoke system, Airwave, with a cheaper system based on EE's 4G network.

As part of the roll-out it is envisaged that mobile signals could be introduced to tube stations and tunnels, but the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) raised concerns that building a full commercial network on the London underground could cause delays to ESN.

Stephen Webb, civil servant responsible for the programme, told MPs: "The decision we need to make now is whether we go for a solution that is just for the emergency services or do we combine it with one that also delivers service for the general public."