BIKRAM RAI

Fifteen years ago, trekking around Gokyo meant being completely cut-off from family and friends. But today, the sight of porters using cell phones in Lobuje or even Everest Base Camp is not uncommon.

When the biggest private mobile company, Ncell, set up a 3G base station powered by solar (pic, above) for broadband mobile communication at 5,200 metres at Gorakshep near Everest Base Camp in 2010, it revolutionised Internet accessibility in the region. Since then, eight other base stations have been installed.

In the last two years, mobile penetration rate across 75 districts of Nepal has increased from 32 to 55 per cent. With mobile phones, Internet penetration rate in Nepal has also increased from six per cent two years ago to 18 per cent now. Mobile telephony has been able to leap frog the digital divide and bypass the restrictions of landlines, and is placing Internet on the fingertips of every mobile phone owner.

Read also:
Wire(less) below Everest, BHRIKUTI RAI in KHUMBU
Bridging the digital divide in the high Himalaya