Leapfrogging Past Long Lines

The pace of life is pretty slow in Matagalpa, a

Nicaraguan city set among rolling hills and farmland. Out of a population of 79,000, less than 6,500 of households have phones. But something happened last December to shake sleepy Matagalpa awake. Mobile-telephone service arrived. Lester Rivas is already hooked. Although he earns just $200 a month working at a local electronics store, the 25-year-old happily forked over $289 for his Sony Ericsson T300 color-screen handset. And he spends $48 a month on prepaid phone cards. "People here are very proud. They all want to buy the fancy models, and they don't worry too much about the monthly expense," Rivas says.