Tenzin, a young monk from the Chokor Ling temple in Gonggar County, Lhoka City of Tibet,said that "now when we would like to communicate with families, just make a phone call. "

Chokor Ling Temple possesses nearly one thousand years of history, and is just one of the many Tibetan temples now benefiting from the recent phone coverage project.

"In the past, there was no phone availability, and every time we wanted to talk with family we had to go all the way over that mountain." As he spoke these words, the 20 some-year-old monk pointed toward the mountain behind the temple.

Tenzin said, after passing through a period of prayerful practice, he became the first amongst several other peers to successfully complete recitation of a classic Kagyu sect text. Although delighted throughout his heart, he was unable to share this joy with families due to the inconvenient communications.

Tenzin is from a small village of Gonggar County, when leaving home to pursue the ways of monk, although there only lies a mountain between home and temple, there is no connectivity for communications equipment and network coverage.

In recent years, alongside the improvements of construction in Tibetan temples and the social public services of Buddhist monks and nuns, the gradual solving of temple communications as well as the strengthening of temple internet communications coverage are also placed on the agendas.

Most Tibetan temples are located in remote countryside areas at high altitudes half way up mountains. Communication enterprises encountered many kinds of difficulties in the process of inspection, design, procurement, construction and testing.

Xiongse Mountain is located in Qüxü County and is about 45 kilometers away from Lhasa. Upon the mountainside, looking ahead is a red and white temple hall. The Xiongse Temple is the largest nunnery of Tibet.

"We already had phone service here," the nun Yeshe Quzhen said, yet the signal was not very stable at first, and it was not really feasible to use cell phones.

Not long ago, the Xiongse Temple management committee contacted with China Mobile and the Telecommunications Company to coordinate the implementation of a signal receiving antenna. At present, no matter on which side of the Xiongse Mountain, it is feasible to connect via a rather strong signal and now even 3G online surfing can be done conveniently.

The work involved with the Tibetan temples mobile communications blackout area is daunting, and there are difficult problems such as those presented by the natural conditions as well as high construction costs etc.

The Tibet Communications Management Bureau explained that, in the process of construction of mobile stations, the telecommunications companies even utilized horse driven means for implementation of various aspects of the construction project during feasible times.

Until now, Tibet has already realized full coverage with mobile phone signals reaching 5,261 administrate villages and completed the installation of phone lines connecting 1,770 temples. The goal of offering 100% phone coverage rates to temples has been realized.