O2 is set to be the first mobile operator to enable its customers to receive and make calls underground with plans to roll out new technology in Glasgow tube stations.

Working with transmission provider Arqiva and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, O2 will use a new multi-user distributed antenna system installed in five of the busiest stations, Buchanan Street, St Enoch, Kelvinbridge, Hillhead and Partick.

Customers will soon be able to use 2G services such as voice calls and text messages alongside 3G services such as video and internet access, according to O2.

"This has been sometime in the planning but I am delighted that we can offer this service to our passengers in time for Christmas," said Gordon Maclennan, assistant chief executive of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

"It is a first for Glasgow and it opens the door for wider Wi-Fi coverage in the Underground in future."

If successful, the scheme could be rolled out to other underground networks such as the London Underground, said O2.