As the telephone first became popular in America, rural communities were often left behind. The expense of putting up lines that would serve so few just wasn’t cost-effective initially, similar to the high-speed broadband problem today. So some farming villages formed collectives and put up their own lines and improvised mini-companies dotted the countryside. Some small Mexican villages are in a similar situation now with mobile. Carlos Slim seems to have forgotten them so they’ve created their own service, which is far cheaper than his. From Subodh Varmathe of the Times of India:

“After being ignored by a company owned by the world’s richest man Carlos Slim, a tiny Mexican village has developed its own mobile network with international connections. The local service costs 15 pesos ($1.2) per month-13 times cheaper than a big firm’s basic plan in Mexico City, AFP reports.

The village of Villa Talea de Castro, dotted with small pink and yellow homes, has a population of 2,500 indigenous people. Tucked away in a lush forest in the southern state of Oaxaca, it was not seen as a profitable market for companies such as Slim’s America Movil. The company wanted at least 10,000 subscribers to bring the village into its mobile coverage, AFP said.

So the village, under an initiative launched by indigenous groups, civil organizations and universities, put up an antenna on a rooftop, installed radio and computer equipment, and created its own micro provider called Red Celular de Talea (RCT) this year.

Calls to the United States, where many of the indigenous Zapoteco resident have migrated, charge a few pennies per minute.”