The summit of Mt. Everest became a wi-fi hot spot when 3G service was successfully released in Nepal by a Sweden-based carrier. The chief executive of Ncell, a subsidiary of TeliaSonera, said the highest video call ever was made from the Mount Everest base camp Friday. Since Nepal has the beginnings of a 3G network, climbers can go online at the summit of the world’s highest peak and one of one of the most backward countries on Earth will get a taste of modern technology.
Going to new heights with a 3G base station
The 3G at Mount Everest will benefit climbers a ton. They had to use satellite phones to talk to anyone when up there before. Ncell is setting up a ton of base stations. In fact, eight 3G stations will be set up. The highest is in the village of Gorakshep, near the Mount Everest base camp at 17,000 feet. Everest 3G will mostly be used for emergency communications and real time weather reports. Ncell explained that surfing the web, sending e-mail and making calls can be cheaper than with satellite phones for all of the locals.
Communications on Everest
Sir Edmund Hillary climbed Mt. Everest first in 1953 leading to an additional 3,000 people climbing it. Runners were used to send messages on the expedition from the climbers to the nearest telegraph. Carrying the equipment for a satellite phone weighed you down 220 pounds. This was how much it weighed when the climber living in Nepal, Veikka Gustafsson, first came to the Humalayas, reports TeliaSonera. Since 2007, the only coverage at Mount Everest in China was the partial service from China Mobile.
Nepal and 3G
Less than one-third of Nepal’s population can access telecommunication services. It is nearly extremely hard to build land-based networks when building a cellular tower is really hard since the mountain is so jagged. The 3G network had been something Guafsson talked about. He said:
“It’s hard for people in the Western world to even imagine what it means for people living in distant villages in valleys separated by high mountains when they now make their first phone call to relatives or are able to contact a doctor over the phone.”
Ncell has about 3.7 million subscribers in Nepal, a number that will rise now with 3G service. By the end of 2011, TeliaSonera plans on having 90 percent of the populace in Nepal covered by investing $100 million.
Additional reading
BBC News
bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11651509
Daily Tech
dailytech.com/Worlds Highest AboveWater Peak Everest Gets Internet Access/article20026.htm
PC Magazine
pcmag.com/article2/,2817,2371750,00.asp
No comments:
Post a Comment