Mount Everest gets 3G coverage

Mount Everest has been equipped with 3G coverage by Nepalese wireless operator Ncell, a subsidiary of TeliaSonera.

Eight base stations, four powered by solar energy, have been fixed to the mountain, the highest at nearly 17,000 feet. Until now, China Mobile had partial coverage of the lower Chinese side of the mountain.

"From its perch on the world's tallest mountain, 3G high-speed internet will bring faster, more affordable telecoms services to the people living in the Khumbu Valley, trekkers and climbers alike," said Lars Nyberg, president of TeliaSonera.

Getting reliable coverage in mountainous terrain has limited the spread of wireless and wired telecoms in the country.

TeliaSonera has committed $100m (£62m) to Ncell, and aims to have 90 per cent of the Nepalese population with mobile coverage by the end of next year.

"It will be a change for the local people, and will be key to the development of the area," said Finnish climber Veikka Gustafsson, who has been leading expeditions in the Himalayas for the past 20 years.

"Up until these days, most of the people's information has travelled on foot. In the early days, we would hire mail runners to carry messages from village to village until it got to the airport."

The announcement is bad news for satellite operators, however, which can charge thousands of dollars a month in contract fees and dollars a minute to call. With an estimated 30,000 visitors a year, the Himalayas would have been a lucrative market.