Cell Phones in Mongolia

When I first started getting ready to go to Mongolia, I went to Google Maps and gave the place a long, hard look. Mountains. Fields. A few towns and Ulaan Baatar. That was about it. Knowing how much trouble I’ve had with international calls, I assumed there wasn’t a big enough market when people were spread out so much so I didn’t even take my cell phone with me. I mean, we’re talking about a total population of 2.8 million for the whole flipping country. Los Angeles alone is 3.8 million.

I still think my thinking was right, but boy were my conclusions wrong. EVERYONE had a cell phone. The monks in Gandan Monastery, the drivers of our vehicles, the nomads in the fields, even the Reindeer People had them.

Maybe I still would have had problems with connecting to the right company, and roaming charges would have eaten me alive, but at least it was possible. Then I could have fielded the hundred and one text messages and voice mails as I went instead of all at once when I got back.

But more to the point, cell phones were just about the only modern convenience with universal acceptance over there. Cell phones and the various way to charge them were commonplace. Satellite dishes and TVs showed up maybe half the time. Electricity for lights turned up now and then. Except for in the cities, that was as much in the way of “modern” as you could expect.

I didn’t see any Playstations or Xboxes anywhere. The only computers I saw were those of my fellow travelers – generally just tablets and smart phones – or associated with businesses in Ulaan Baatar. They might not have plumbing, but many have cars and/or motorcycles.

But it makes perfect sense to me. Consider the case of the Reindeer People. They live in tipis. Check out the one below which was made of heavy black plastic. There are only about 300 of them left in the world – all around the border between Siberia and Mongolia. They have no medical facilities, no grocery stores, etc. There is a town (which we didn’t go to) where some of them gather at various times, but for the most part they go it alone. Yet, at the bottom right you can see the solar recharger set out.

The people we visited with in this camp were a grandmother, her son and daughter in law, and one of her grand children. They only had three of the reindeer with them because the weather is too hot for them. The grandmother’s husband and rest of the family had the rest of the herd up to the north. They stayed in touch with the cell phone.