Remote work from the northern areas is practical in three places: central Hunza, Gilgit city and Skardu town. The 4G is usually good enough for video calls. Electricity is the real problem. Gilgit-Baltistan is not connected to the national grid, and its small hydropower stations produce far less in winter, when outages of 18 to 20 hours a day have been reported. Plan a working stay for May to October and choose your room by its backup power, not its view.
This guide covers the connection, the power situation with figures, where to base yourself, what to ask before booking and who this kind of trip suits.
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Workable bases | Karimabad and Aliabad (Hunza), Gilgit city, Skardu town |
| Best network | SCOM, with a national SIM as backup |
| Power cuts, summer | About 6 to 8 hours a day reported; worse in some years and towns |
| Power cuts, winter | 18 to 20 hours a day reported, up to 22 in Skardu |
| Best months | May to October |
| Must have | Guesthouse with solar or generator backup, power bank, two SIMs |
| No signal | Deosai, the high passes, glacier treks and most side valleys |
How good is the internet?
The widest network is SCOM, the mobile service of the Special Communications Organization (SCO), a state telecom body set up in 1976 to serve Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. SCO runs the region's optical fibre backbone, including the fibre link laid along the Karakoram Highway to the Chinese border, and has offered 4G since 2017 to 2018.
In the towns, the national networks work as well. Carry two SIMs on different networks so that a fault on one tower does not end your working day. Our guides on which SIM works in Gilgit-Baltistan and how to get a SCOM SIM cover coverage by valley and the paperwork.
Three limits matter for work:
- Speed is uneven. It drops in the evening and in peak tourist weeks, when thousands of visitors share the same towers.
- Towers need power too. During long outages they run on batteries and generators, and signal can weaken or vanish until the grid returns.
- Coverage ends quickly. Leave the main valley floor and the signal goes. A day trip to a high meadow is a day offline.
Fixed broadband exists in the towns through SCO's own service, and some hotels and guesthouses have it. Ask for a speed test screenshot from the room, not from the reception desk.
Electricity is the real constraint
Gilgit-Baltistan generates its own power, almost all of it from small hydropower stations on side streams. In winter those streams freeze or shrink. An engineer of the region's Water and Power Department told Arab News in January 2025 that the region had 137 power stations with an installed capacity of 190 MW, but generated about 140 MW in summer and only 76 MW in winter.
What that means on the ground:
- Winter. In January 2025 residents reported outages of about 20 hours a day in Gilgit, more than 20 in Hunza and 21 to 22 in Skardu. Protesters blocked the Karakoram Highway at Aliabad over it on 3 January 2025.
- Summer. A July 2025 report in The Friday Times put summer load shedding at 6 to 8 hours a day against 18 to 20 in winter. Skardu has had worse summers: AFP reported 18 to 20 hours there in June 2024, as hotel building outran supply.
- Trend. The power department said outage hours had risen by about 10 per cent a year for six years. A 100 MW solar project for the region was approved in December 2025; we found no report that it is finished.
The same Friday Times report described freelancers leaving Gilgit-Baltistan for Rawalpindi because they could not meet deadlines. That is the honest picture: people who live there struggle with this, so a visitor needs a plan.
Where to base yourself
Central Hunza (Karimabad and Aliabad). The widest choice of guesthouses and cafes, and a walkable town for the hours you are not working. Aliabad is the commercial centre and the base of the Karakorum Area Development Organization (KADO), a local development body that lists a Digital Hunza programme among its work. An earlier version of this guide described a KADO co-working hub with backup power; we could not confirm its current hours or fees, so email KADO before counting on a desk there. A software technology park built with SCO opened at Nasirabad, lower in the valley, in June 2024, though it is aimed at local IT firms and freelancers more than visitors.
Gilgit city. The least scenic and the most practical: the airport, banks, hospitals, repair shops and all the networks are here. If your work cannot tolerate a missed day, Gilgit is the safer base, with weekends in Hunza two hours up the road.
Skardu town. Good 4G in town and a large hotel stock, but the heaviest power cuts of the three in recent reports. Choose a hotel with its own solar or generator supply and confirm the hours it runs.
Azad Kashmir is a poor choice for a working stay at present. During the 2026 protests there, internet and phone services were shut down for more than 50 days.
What to ask before you book
Guesthouse owners are used to these questions. Send them by WhatsApp and get the answers in writing.
- Do you have solar panels, a battery bank or a generator, and for how many hours a day does it run?
- Does the backup power the room sockets and the Wi-Fi router, or only the lights?
- Which mobile network is strongest inside the rooms?
- Is there fixed broadband, and what speed does a test show in the evening?
- Is the room heated, and by what? Electric heaters are useless in a 20-hour outage.
- What is the rate for two weeks or a month, and does it include meals and laundry?
We have not printed monthly rates because we could not verify any. Rates are usually negotiable for longer stays and outside the peak summer weeks, so ask several places. Our hotels in Karimabad guide is a starting list.
What to bring
- A power bank large enough to recharge a laptop, plus the cable to do it
- A second SIM on a different network, and a phone that can hotspot
- A surge protector, since supply fluctuates when the grid comes back
- Offline copies of everything you need for the next two days of work
- Warm clothes for working indoors from October onwards
What still doesn't work well
Live calls you cannot reschedule are a risk. Tell clients in advance that a call may drop and agree a backup, such as a phone call or a later slot.
Large uploads are slow, so do them overnight. Weather also matters more than in a city: a storm can take out power and the road at the same time, and flights to Gilgit and Skardu are cancelled in cloud. Do not schedule a return to the office for the day after your planned flight.
Who is it for?
It suits people with flexible, mostly asynchronous work: writers, designers, developers who can batch their uploads. It suits a stay of two to six weeks in the warm months, long enough to settle in.
It does not suit anyone on fixed shifts, in back-to-back video meetings or on call. For them a normal holiday is the better use of the north. Our Gilgit and Hunza guide covers the area, and the Gilgit, Hunza and Khunjerab tour is the fixed-itinerary option.
Frequently asked questions
Is the internet good enough to work from Hunza?
For email, documents and most video calls, yes, on SCOM 4G in Karimabad and Aliabad. Speeds dip in the evening and during long power cuts, so keep a second SIM and expect the occasional dropped call.
How many hours is the electricity off in Gilgit-Baltistan?
Reports give about 6 to 8 hours a day in summer and 18 to 20 in winter, with 20 to 22 hours reported in Gilgit, Hunza and Skardu in January 2025. It varies by town and year, so ask your guesthouse what the current schedule is.
Which months are best for a working stay in the north?
May to October. Hydropower output is highest in summer, the days are warm enough to work without heating, and the roads and flights are most reliable.
Is there a co-working space in Hunza or Skardu?
There is no large commercial co-working chain. KADO in Hunza runs digital programmes, a technology park opened at Nasirabad in 2024, and a youth cooperative in Skardu was reported in 2025 to have set up a solar-powered workspace. Confirm access directly before relying on any of them.
Do I need a SCOM SIM?
It is strongly advised. SCOM has the widest coverage in Gilgit-Baltistan, and a national SIM alongside it gives you a backup when one network is down.
Can I work from Fairy Meadows, Deosai or a trek?
No. Signal is weak or absent in those places and there is no dependable power. Treat them as days off.
