ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I examine the link between nationalism and telecommunications infrastructure in Antarctica by looking at the deployment and use of mobile and locative services across national research stations from several countries in King George Island, Antarctic Peninsula, an area where territorial claims are contested and sovereignty is a complicated geopolitical issue. In particular, I focus on how national telecom companies from Chile and Uruguay have built towers there for cellular reception offering mobile broadband, which is used by other countries, particularly Russia, as well as by the thousands of tourists visiting the place each summer. The Chinese and Korean bases have developed their own infrastructures to provide internet and location services, which in the case of the Chinese station allows it to restrict access to Facebook and other sites.
