Mount Everest is the tallest peak in the world. It stands at 29,029 feet. In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first two people to reach its summit. Only around 5,000 people have summited Everest since but almost 220 have died trying. Up until 2010, the only way that people could communicate to the outside world while on the mountain was by using clunky satellite phones that often offered patchy service.
However, in fall 2010, a private telecommunications company, Ncell, installed 3G cell phone towers at Mount Everest’s base camp. This camp is 17,000 feet above sea level. The company installed a total of 8 base stations, four of which will run on solar power. Now, climbers can make phone and video calls as well as surf the web from base camp all the way to the top of the mountain. Imagine the tweets!