Cell Phone Tower on Everest

I know that if I were to ever climb Mount Everest, one of my main concerns would be whether or not I would have cell phone reception. As if Everest hasn’t become commercialized enough over the years, now we are building cell phone towers on it. Before you know it there will be a 24 hour McDonalds at basecamp and a Starbucks at the start of each route.

According to MobileCrunch.com, China Mobile has hired Huawei Technologies to build a GSM base station at Mount Everest. The station will sit at 6,500 meters and run off solar power. The justification of this atrocity is that calls can be made between basecamp and the main route up Everest.

Now I’ve never climbed Everest so I don’t if this actually a helpful idea. But if you ask me the entire thing seems like more of marketing stunt. In fact, the installation is supposed to be complete before the Beijing Olympics. The plan is to have the Torch Relay Team reach the top of the Mountain for the opening ceremony. I wonder who they’re going to call?

Whats you take on this situation?