According to the People's Daily Online, China Mobile has opened the world's highest internet cafe at Everest base camp. The internet cafe and wireless service centre are located at an altitude of 17,000 feet.

But if People's Daily Online has got it right it wasn't set up just so mountaineers could post photos of themselves on Facebook. Instead the internet cafe was set up to provide mobile and web services to government officials working with the Olympic torch relay team at Mount Qomolangma in Tibet.

The Olympic torch is set to be carried to the top of Mt Everest sometime this month in what is being billed by the Chinese authorities as the highlight of the thus far controversial torch relay leading up to Beijing 2008.