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Metro’s plan to offer users of all cell phone carriers by October of this year will be delayed until at least 2015, according to an internal memo obtained by the Examiner:

The transit agency says it and its cellphone partners won’t be able to finish the work until Dec. 31, 2015, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Examiner. And it’s going to “necessitate additional shutdowns of major portions of track” to complete.

Metro officials have been asking Congress for a reprieve from next month’s deadline, which could jeopardize $1.5 billion in federal funding if missed.

The House has approved a short-term extension, passing language as part of an unrelated continuing resolution that extends the deadline until March 27, 2013. Congressional officials plan to seek a more permanent extension after the November election or in the early months of the new Congress, according to the office of Rep. Gerry Connolly, D.-Va.

While the system’s 20 busiest stations have been wired for all users since 2009—Verizon users have had service in Metro since the 1990s—a remaining slate of 27 stations and 50 miles of tunnel were originally set to be done by October. During a recent shutdown of a large downtown section of the Red Line, work was done installing and upgrading fiber optic cables as part of the larger project.