The Himalayan region is characterised by mountain communities that have many of the poorest and isolated peoples in the world. These communities suffer from poor infrastructure and lack of access to basic resources and services, including relevant information. Since the mid-1990s, Internet technologies have been used increasingly in different parts of the Himalayan region, in an attempt to address problems of information access and sharing and of communication among and between communities. The overall objectives of using these technologies in mountain areas have been to bring about an improvement in the quality of life and to seek to avoid increasing marginalisation of mountain communities through a widening ‘information gap’ between the richer, ‘connected’ urban populations and the poorer isolated rural communities.

There is growing interest on the part of various players, including governments, private organisations and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), to promote the use of the Internet and related information and communication technologies. Among the international NGOs, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) plays a unique role in the Himalayas, as it has a mandate to specifically serve communities in mountain areas and it works throughout the region, in Afghanistan, North Pakistan, North India, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

This paper traces the history of Internet usage in the Himalayas and introduces the issues and problems faced in implementing projects and other initiatives to promote usage. Specific reference is made to examples arising from some of ICIMOD’s projects; lessons learned from these experiences are highlighted.