Huawei brings 4G to Mount Everest

published 5 July 2013

Huawei claims to have successfully deployed 4G services on Mount Everest, with the help of long-term tech collaborator China Mobile.

The Chinese networking vendor worked with the firm to roll out the superfast network on the mountain, some 5,200 metres above sea level.

The mountain, which sits on the border of Tibet and Nepal in Asia, is the tallest in the world at 8,848 metres above sea-level. Huawei's 4G services have been deployed several kilometres below its peak at one of the site's base camps.

The two firms took the wraps off the service at a launch event last month, demonstrating how the service can be used to stream high definition videos from Mount Everest.

The launch follows on from the work the two companies did six years ago to bring GSM coverage to the mountain in anticipation of the 2008 Olympic Games torch relay, and to help improve climber safety.

David Wang, president of Huawei Wireless Networks, said the project represents an important milestone in the building out of 4G networks across the globe.

"We are very excited to make this possible and look forward to working with more operators worldwide to bring high-speed mobile broadband services anytime and anywhere."

The announcement comes at a time of intense political scrutiny for Huawei, after concerns were raised last month by a Government committee about its involvement in building out the UK's critical national infrastructure.

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.

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