The highest mountain in the world now has telephone, mobile Internet, video calls and cellular TV access — yes that’s right, 3G.
While sitting on the top of Mount Everest you can surf the Web, propose to your girlfriend and call for help if you’re in a crisis. It was recently tested by making the world’s highest video call at 17,388 feet.
Ncell teamed up with private investors and Sweden-based company TeliaSonera to build a 3G base station to cover the mountain and the area surrounding it.
Currently the network covers less than one-third of Nepal‘s population, but they plan to invest $100 million in 2011 to then provide mobile coverage to more than 90 percent. “This achievement is as mighty as the altitude as 3G high speed Internet will bring faster, more affordable telecommunication services to the people living in the Khumbu Valley, trekkers and climbers alike,” said TeliaSonera CEO Lars Nyberg.
Veikka Gustafsson, a professional mountain climber from Finland, is very excited about the new development because he thinks it will be a big step for the locals and help expeditions be much safer. He explains that in the past, information was passed by a mail runner who would send messages to local villages or the nearest airport to then be flown out.
Now with 120 dead bodies on the mountain since humans first climbed it in 1953, the new service allow climbers be in contact their family, sponsors and weather people directly, which will ultimately save lives. It couldn’t come at a better time. James Franco will star in Danny Boyle’s 127 Days in theaters on Nov. 5 based on a true-life story about a climber whose arm gets trapped under a boulder and has to amputate it with a dull knife. Let’s hope with 3G, less of these stories will be told.
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Photo by Joe Hastings via Flickr.