Photo shows the Metok County in Nyingchi, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.[Photo by agency]

Locals in Metok County like to say, “You’re not afraid of anything after traveling in Metok.” The last county in China to have a highway, Metok County of the Tibet Autonomous Region has entered the age of fiber optics and is enjoying the convenience of the internet age.

The journey from Bayi Township, the economy and culture center of Nyingchi, to Metok is less than 200 km but takes at least eight hours.

Metok means “hidden lotus flower” in Tibetan. Situated on the southern slope of the Himalaya Mountains, the region borders India, and has the lowest altitude, the most rainfall, and best ecological conditions of the region. In 2013, before the Metok Highway was completed, people had to travel on foot to leave Metok, where the area was inaccessible for six months of the year. The media liked to call Metok a “lone island.”

Jiang Yonghong is a women’s affairs officer, in her home at Dexing Village of Dexing Town in Metok, the TV was playing. There are a few dozen TV channels and an almost endless variety of TV shows thanks to the fiber optic network. “Before, we had to watch TV with a satellite dish, the picture was blurry, and there was nothing to watch when the weather was bad.” Said Jiang.

The five members of Jiang Honghong’s family own six cellphones, plus the use of broadband internet, costing her about 2900 yuan per year. She knows how to search online and could chat with her kids, who are away at college, on wechat. Her kids are also very skilled at using the internet. She said, “Nowadays, the internet is a must, we wouldn’t feel comfortable without it.”

In this remote border area of South-Western China, Dexing Village benefits from the “Broadband China” project and the “Accessible Villages” project for China’s countryside and remote regions.

For example, China Mobile invested 3.414 billion yuan in communication access for Tibet from 2005 to 2016, providing mobile telephone service for 4,269 administrative villages and 1,783 natural villages, adding broadband services for 1,956 administrative villages, and fiber optic access for 660 counties. On the 4,000 km long border of China, there is 100% network coverage for the border towns and ports.

In 2005, Dexing Village’s local administration team requested broadband access from China Mobile, and they received an enthusiastic response. The seven villages and one town within Metok County have all achieved total broadband network coverage by 2015. The governments for Dexing Town, Damu Town, Beibeng Town, Metok Town, Yadong Village, Metok Village, Dexing Village, and Beibeng Village have also acquired broadband network coverage by 2016. Only Jiaresa town, Gande town, and some administrative villages still need broadband due to road and power conditions.

This year, Tibet’s broadband access construction project for villages will continue to accelerate. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology proposed the mission of adding broadband to 791 administrative villages and upgrading broadband for 905 administrative villages in Tibet. Tibet Mobile is in charge of one-third of the mission, which includes providing coverage for the two villages in Metok yet to have broadband.