Canada's federal industry minister said he's taking action to ensure riders on Toronto's transit system have wireless coverage as soon as possible.

François-Philippe Champagne is directing his department to launch an expedited consultation process to revise the licences of the four major carriers to ensure all TTC riders have coverage as soon as technically feasible, the minister said in a press release late Monday afternoon. 

The action comes after what Champagne said is limited progress between Canada's major telecoms carriers on reaching an agreement to provide wireless service on the TTC subway system. 

Such an agreement has been a point of contention ever since Rogers bought the company that had been providing wireless on the subway, which only had a deal with Freedom Mobile for wireless coverage. 

Rogers has pledged to work with its rivals and make the upgraded system accessible for other mobile carriers to use. 

However, Bell and Telus have been pushing back against the company's plans, arguing instead for a consortium model. 

Rogers has proposed a framework to get a deal done by this summer and offered to give Bell and Telus access to the network by early fall if they couldn't reach commercial terms, spokesman Cam Gordon said in an email Monday. He said Bell and Telus did not accept the offer. 

Rogers will participate in the consultation while it continues to work with the TTC to upgrade the existing network, said Gordon. 

Telus, Bell and Quebecor, which owns Freedom Mobile, did not respond to requests for comment. 

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