3G service now available on Mount Everest

Posted by Patrick Lambert Categories: Smartphones, Wireless / WiFi,

This morning, Ncell, a subsidiary of cellular giant TeliaSonera, announced that 3G service is now available at the top of Mount Everest. While spotty, basic, 2G service was available before, thanks to an earlier network from China Mobile. Now people can make video calls, surf the web and post to Twitter from one of the most remote locations on Earth. This morning, the highest ever video call was placed from the Everest base camp. According to the spokesperson, "This is a great milestone for mobile communications as the 3G high speed internet will bring faster, more affordable telecommunication services from the world's tallest mountain."

Of course, this is more for publicity than anything else. There are still plenty of places with a significant population that still don't have coverage that would benefit from that kind of effort. Still, TeliaSonera did promise up to $100 Million to help reach the rest of the Himalayan nation's population, so hopefully this is a first step in a bigger effort.

Read More | Yahoo! News

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