From the Archives: When an Indigenous community in Oaxaca, snubbed by telecom giants, created its own mobile network, things didn’t go exactly as planned. But the experiment revealed the strength of its social bonds.
In your hand, you’re gripping a cellphone. You’re staring at your device’s signal bars, hoping to see them come alive for the first time.You continue testing the network, winding up steep cobblestone paths between sunbaked, stucco houses. Gleeful cheers begin erupting everywhere. Stunned villagers stagger outside, holding cellphones.
But the pueblo wasn’t isolated from the rest of the world. I went there to study globalization’s effects on rural Mexico, and I found that the forces of capitalism, migration, and pop culture had already thoroughly reshaped Talea. But Taleans didn’t accept that excuse. As a friend bitterly reminded me, América Móvil was run by members of the Slim family—among the world’s wealthiest people. The company could have easily subsidized a rural project by tapping into its vast cash reserves, if it had wanted to.I now teach in the heart of Silicon Valley in California, where innovation is a buzzword. Some believe the region has a monopoly on inventiveness—as if Big Tech equals creativity.
At the workshop, Kendra and Abrám met Peter Bloom, a U.S.-born communications expert, and Erick Huerta, a lawyer experienced in telecom policy. Two years earlier, Bloom and Huerta had co-founded Rhizomatica, a nongovernmental organization that seeks to expand cellphone service in rural regions and in Indigenous communities around the globe. They talked with the two villagers about creating a community mobile network.
That’s what had led to the day in March 2013 when the Rhizomatica team piloted the network. To avoid a user overload, they had booted up the system without telling anyone, hoping for the best—and succeeded against all odds. Big Telecom has won out in Talea—at least for now—partly because of the seductive allure of a globally recognized brand and partly because many residents wanted to jump from 2G to 3G, from cellphones to smartphones.
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