Hikers stand near tents along a trekking route on Mount Kilimanjaro in 2014. The Tanzanian government has installed high-speed internet service on the mountain’s slopes.
Peter Martell/AFP via Getty Images
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Peter Martell/AFP via Getty Images
Hikers stand near tents along a trekking route on Mount Kilimanjaro in 2014. The Tanzanian government has installed high-speed internet service on the mountain’s slopes.
Peter Martell/AFP via Getty Images
High-speed internet service has reached Mount Kilimanjaro, meaning climbers can now use their phones to help navigate and post on social media as they climb Africa’s highest mountain.
Tanzania’s state-owned telecommunications corporation installed the broadband network last week at an altitude of 12,200 feet and aims to bring connectivity to the 19,300-foot summit by the end of the year.
“Today … I am launching high-speed INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS (BRADBAND) in the CAPITAL OF AFRICA,” Nape Nnauye, minister for information, communication and information technology, tweeted on Tuesday. “Tourists can now communicate around the world from the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.”
The new coverage aims to support tourism as well as security.
Nnauye said it was previously “a bit dangerous” for visitors and porters to navigate the mountain without internet service, according to AFP. About 35,000 people attempt to summit Kilimanjaro each year, although about a third are forced to turn back due to altitude sickness and other issues.
As an added bonus, climbers can now share selfies from the slope and their friends and acquaintances can follow their journey in real time (in case you didn’t think your FOMO was bad enough already).
Kilimanjaro is not the first – or highest – mountain to cater to adventurers. Nepal’s Mount Everest has had 4G mobile connectivity since 2013 and fiber optic broadband since 2017.
Critics say the needs of locals are being overlooked
The internet installation is also proving to be a source of controversy, with critics accusing the Tanzanian government of prioritizing tourists over the needs of locals.
Less than 45% of Tanzania’s area (accounting for 83% of the population) was covered by any form of cell reception as of 2020, according to the Center for Global Development.
Josef Noll, a researcher at Norway’s University of Oslo, told NBC News that telecommunications coverage in Tanzania is managed almost entirely by private international corporations, which buy coverage licenses from the government.
He said operators have refused to extend 3G and 4G access to rural areas near the base of Kilimanjaro because not enough people have the mobile phones needed to facilitate internet use – adding that they may be more inclined to buy them. those if there is internet coverage.
Nnauye, Minister of Information Technology, photos shared on Twitter of what he described as “tourists … enjoying the service.”
The emphasis on tourism is consistent with the role it plays in Tanzania’s economy. As of 2019, according to the World Bank, tourism was the largest foreign exchange earner, the second largest contributor to GDP, and the third largest contributor to employment in the country.
Also with tourists in mind, the Tanzanian government approved the construction of a cable car on Kilimanjaro – an idea that caused widespread backlash from environmentalists and climbers; the idea has been slow to progress since then.
Broadband is part of a larger infrastructure initiative
Tanzanian authorities are working to expand high-speed broadband across the country through an initiative called the National ICT Broadband Rollout, which is operated by the Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation on behalf of the government.
Its objectives include enhancing information and communication technology for the “equitable and sustainable socio-economic and cultural development of Tanzania”, as well as providing access to international submarine fiber optic cables via Dar es Salaam for landlocked neighboring countries. sea, like Uganda, Rwanda and the Democrats. Republic of the Congo.
The project also receives financial support from China (which invested more than $4 billion in African infrastructure projects in 2020 alone). Chen Mingjian, China’s ambassador to Tanzania, celebrated the announcement online at a her tweet.
“Happy hay!” she wrote, which is Swahili for congratulations. “I hope one day you visit the TOWER OF AFRICA – Mount Kilimanjaro”.
Until that day comes, she — like many others — may just have to be content with live streaming someone else’s ascension.
