Llamadas: mobile+human pay phone
One of the most interesting service you find on the street in Peru (and I am sure you can also get it in other countries) is the “llamadas”. It’s generally women or teenagers with a bundle of mobile phones and a stop-watch who act as pay phones. They wear colorful clothes with mobile carriers brands and the “llamadas” logo (that they also shout when you pass by).
In the example below taken in the village Ayaviri, you can see a local coming with the phone numbers written on her notepad to ask the llamadas to call it. They are ubiquitous in city centers, often found near the Plaza de Armas.
A sort of mobile human phone booth in a sense, a proxy for your call.
August 18th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
The presence of the logos on the jackets made me wonder: Is this a grassroots service, or a the llamadas contracted/sponsored by the carriers themselves?
August 18th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
From what I was told, it’s not grassroots but paid/put in place by the carriers
August 19th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
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August 25th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Claus, it’s not contracted. What they serve is for the customer to know who to look for when they’re calling one carrier or the other, as it is cheaper to use Movistar to call other Movistar phones or Claro for other Claro phones.
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