High speed internet on top of the world

KATHMANDU Oct 28: Ncell has launched the highest base station in the world providing 3G mobile phone services around the Mount Everest area. The 3G base station is located at an altitude of 5,200 meters, Ncell said Thursday.



Inaugurating the services from Syangboche Thursday morning, Ncell CEO Pasi Koistinen made a video call to Ncell staff Nyamgyal Sherpa who was at Kalapatthar, situated an altitude of 5,500 meters. [break]



Communication brings better opportunities and with the 3G services of Ncell, locals and trekkers can surf the web and make video calls at a lot cheaper rate than expensive satellite phones, Koistinen was quoted as saying by Ncell.



In order to make the 3G services available to locals and trekkers in the Khumbu area, Ncell has set up nine base stations -- in Lukla, Namche, Khumjung, Thame, Syanboche, Thyangboche, Kalapatthar, Phakding and Gorakshep.



According to the deputy chief technical officer of Ncell Sergey Gornostaev, of the nine base stations, three are powered by solar panels while the rest operate from the electricity from local hydro-power projects.



Later, during a press conference in the capital Lars Nyberg, the president and CEO of TeliaSonera, the majority owner of Ncell said that TeliaSonera now corevage both at low and high altitudes with a base station at 1,400 meters below sea level in Sweden and now the one in the Everest region



He further added that the company has decided to increase the pace of investment for 2011 and plans to spend over $100 million during the year. "This will ensure mobile coverage of over 90 percent of the population," Nyber said.



Tero Kivisaari, the presient of TeliaSonera - Eurasia, unveiled the company´s plan to be the market leader within five years. "At present, we might not be the number one mobile operator in Nepal in terms of subscriber base, but we are the best service providers here," he said. He further said although it was a challenging job to get mobile coverage to 100 percent of the population due to geographical reasons, Ncell is planning to cover all 75 districts.



The local partner of Ncell who owns 20 percent of the stake in the company, Dr Upendra Mahato expressed his hope to attract more tourists and introduce more opportunities with the help of technology. "The huge investment of TeliaSonera is encouraging for other foreign investors to invest in Nepal," he said.



Ncell, the largest private mobile operator of the country, has 3.7 million subscribers.

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