Excellent news for Mount Everest climbers next time there’s a traffic jam on the final push to the summit, now you can pull out your smartphone and rip a FaceTime with your buds or hopefully get a few Tinder matches. China Mobile Hong Kong and Huawei have joined forces to install the world’s highest 5G tower at an altitude of 21,325 feet.
The Sun reports yaks are widely used for transporting gear in the Himalayas due to their thick fur and layers of fat, as well as their oversized lungs and heart. The high altitude beasts of burden proved instrumental to the cellphone tower’s installation.
150+ employees took part in the construction and maintenance of the equipment, including the upgrade of the 177 km transmission trunk-line and route along Everest. 25km of fiber optic cables were laid as part of the project. Plans for using the new technology include establishing the true height of Mount Everest, currently officially listed as 29,029 ft.
The firms behind had this to say about the service Mount Everest mountaineers will now have access to:
“It would help improve communication for mountaineering friends. Its no longer a dream to reach 8K live broadcasts with relatives and friends on 5G network”.
