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High speed internet at the top of the world

High speed internet is now available on top of the world after a Nepalese telecom first launched the first 3G services at the base camp of Mount Everest.

High speed internet is now available on top of the world after a Nepalese telecom first launched the first 3G services at the base camp of Mount Everest.
The facility provides fast surfing on the web, sending video clips and emails, as well as calls to friends and family back home at far cheaper rates than the average satellite phone Credit: Photo: ALAMY

The installation could help the tens of thousands of mountain climbers and trekkers who visit the Mount Everest region in the Solukhumbu district every year.

They have to depend on expensive satellite phones to remain in touch with their families as the remote region lacks proper communication facilities.

Ncell, a Nepali telecoms company, said its new facility is the first 3G set-up at the base camp of Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain at 29,035ft.

"Today we made the (world's) highest video call from Mount Everest," Ncell chief Pasi Koistinen said in Kathmandu, referring to the call made from 5,300 metres, the area from where climbers begin the actual climb to Everest.

The facility provides fast surfing on the web, sending video clips and emails, as well as calls to friends and family back home at far cheaper rates than the average satellite phone, the company said in a statement.

Telecommunication services cover only a third of the 28 million people of Nepal, South Asia's poorest country. Ncell plans to expand facilities to ensure mobile coverage to more than 90 per cent of the Himalayan nation's population.