How Did ABC Get Fiber Internet Running at the Same Speed as Kathmandu To provide essential communication facilities to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC), the main trekking destination of Nepal, which is full of foreign tourists, Worldlink provided wireless internet together with social activist Mahavir Pun 15/16 years ago. About six or seven years ago, Dilip Agarwal, founder and managing director of Worldlink, also went there for trekking.
But when Dilip arrived, the internet was not working. After seeing that, he checked himself to see what the problem was. The wire that sends the wireless internet signal to the router is connected to the wrong place. After connecting it to the right place, the internet started working immediately.
Foreign and domestic tourists and locals were shocked with happiness after the Internet started in the difficult Himalayan region. They started making audio-video calls on their mobile phones. Seeing that, Dilip started planning to provide good-quality internet on the trekking route frequented by local and foreign trekkers.
Years ago, even if there was no wireless internet, ABC used to be the first-choice destination for hikers. In the early days, the Sherpa youth used to run to the top hotel with news for the booking of tourists going on the trek. Nepalese and FIT (completely independent tourists), i.e., unassisted tourists, were not booked in this way and suffered because they walked randomly.
However, without looking at the commercial profit loss of his company, Dilip decided to provide high-speed internet service based on modern technology to ABC.
The trunk link of the company reached Pathichaur, Dimuwa. By the plan to deliver FTTH to ABC, the trunk link was extended to Ghandruk in February 2076. But soon, the COVID epidemic started. After the implementation of the lockdown, the internet expansion project was stopped for some time. In January 2077, the internet service that reached Chomrong was difficult to take beyond that due to a lack of power management.
ABC is at an altitude of 4,100 meters. It was difficult to carry power for optical fiber at such a high altitude. No one had the experience of delivering fiber internet at that height, not only in Nepal but also in India and China.
According to Virendra Thapa, project manager of the company for Gandaki, an optical line terminal (OLT) was established in Chomrong on November 10, 2079, after managing the power. And finally, on March 3, 2079, the Padmarg area up to ABC was connected to the FTTH Internet network.
In most places, the wire is taken underground. Thapa said that it is not possible to bury the wire underground in rocky places. Fiber has been delivered up to the high Himalayan area, although there is no way to do it, hanging on trees and crawling on the ground for a total of 25 percent of the distance under the footpath.
It has just been a year since Worldlink delivered fiber internet to ABC. In the meantime, when the cable was pressed by an avalanche, the Internet was a bit slow, but the connection has not been completely disconnected yet.
When foreign tourists ask for money back when the wireless internet does not work,
Before the arrival of fiber internet, wireless internet was connected to the hotels around Padmarg. The wireless network was extended 15/16 years ago for Danda-Chomrong-Deurali-MBC-ABC above Pokhara. Which was a project completed on the initiative of Mahavir Pun.
But Rajkumar, the owner of Chomrong Guest House, has experienced difficulties in the tourist area due to the non-operation of the 256 kbps internet. “At that time, we used to charge a fee and let tourists use the internet,” he says, “but when the internet stopped working, the tourists demanded their money back.
With the advent of the Internet, the spending of tourists has increased.
Dobhan is a four- to five-hour walk from Chomrong. According to the experience of Chutman Gurung, who is running a hotel business in Dobhan, there has been no problem even in the upper part since fiber internet was connected. However, he has also taken basic training to be able to solve any small problem on the internet in that area.
“I am solving problems myself by going to the nearest places,” he says. For this, we have asked for additional wires from the company. In that situation, we used to think, Why wait ten hours for a task that can be solved by ourselves in ten minutes?
Gurung’s experience has made it possible for ten other people to easily know the beauty of the tourist area because of one tourist with a mobile phone in hand. A minimum fee for the internet has also been collected from foreign tourists.
He claims that ABC is the place where the FTTH network has reached the highest area. “Also, the highest place where we have provided fiber internet is Manaslu Dharamshala, at an altitude of 4,400 meters. But only WiFi is left there. There is no distribution to the customers by delivering the network like this,” he said.
According to Thapa, the fiber internet of Worldlink has reached all rural villages in Gorkha, Lamjung, Tanahun, Kaski, Syangja, and Parbat. “That experience has made it very easy for us to work in rural and remote areas,” he said.
How Did ABC Get Fiber Internet Running at the Same Speed as Kathmandu 