BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Medog County in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China's only county without access to optical cables, entered the third-generation (3G) era as an optical cable telecommunications project was completed and came into use Friday.

    Medog County is in the rugged mountainous area and is sparsely populated with about 10,000 residents, mostly in rural areas.

A resident of Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, talks on her mobile in this file photo taken on March 28, 2007.  (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    The project was started in June 2009 with an investment of 14 million yuan (2.05 million U.S. dollars), said China Telecom Friday.

    The construction of the project was an arduous task due to poor infrastructure, bad weather and tough natural conditions, the state owned company told Xinhua.

    Medog means "secret lotus" in the Tibetan language and the county boasts of unparalleled natural beauty. It is also China's only county without a highway.

    A construction project for a 117-km highway, initiated this April and scheduled to end in 2011, was expected to end the county's isolation from the outside world.

Highway construction to complete in three years for Medog  

    LHASA, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's last road-less county Medog, in Tibet, will be connected with the outside when construction on a highway is completed in three years as scheduled.

    The 117-km highway, linking Zhamog Town, the county seat of Bome, and Medog, will end the history that local people have to rely on horses and mules for transportation in Medog, said Yao Bohua, head of the highway planning and design institute under the region's communication department.

Tibet to develop hiking routes to its "isolated island" 

    BEIJING, July 29 -- Tibet Tourism Co., Ltd. are to develop a few hiking routes for tourists to the Medog County, southeastern Tibet's Nyingchi Prefecture.

    Dubbed as an "isolated island" on the Tibet plateau, Medog is China's last road-less county. With abundant mountains, rivers and waterfall, the county attracts a larger number of tourists. However, the tough journey discourages visitors as it is located in the hinterland of the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon.