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Mobile Phone Coverage Upgraded on Mount Everest
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China Mobile has increased its mobile phone coverage on the Chinese side of Mount Everest with coverage now available at the 5,200 meter high base camp. A first base station was installed by Huawei in 2007 for the Chinese Olympic's torch relay which visited the mountain.
Zhuo Feng, general manager at the Tibetan branch of China Mobile said that the signal can now reach as high as 6,500 meters.
"A just-finished week-long trial of the No 2 China Mobile 3G base station at the camp has found to be working well, providing a stable network service, according to a statement," issued today by the mobile operator's Tibetan branch.
Apparently tourists were complaining about the lack of phone coverage at the base camp, however the mobile network has no plans to expand coverage further up the mountain. It is technically possible for mobile phone coverage to reach the summit of the mountain, although that is very dependant on the weather.
Last year, a British mountain climber and guide, Kenton Cool sent what is thought to have been the first ever Tweet from the summit of Mount Everest, in a publicity stunt arranged by Samsung.
He wasn't the first to use a mobile phone at the top of the world though - and the first ever phone call was made by another British mountaineer, Rod Baber in May 2007 - who was sponsored by Motorola for the record breaking attempt.
Other notable high altitude base stations can be found on the summit of Africa's tallest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro.
Tags: [china mobile] [mount everest] [China]
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