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.

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.

(Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2009)