Time is Money.

Talk is cheap, but even with deregulation of services like telecom--which Bolivia did in the 1990s--time spent chatting can ruin a family budget. Per capita annual income in the country adjusted for purchasing power is still around US$2,700. Accordingly, many Bolivians just avoid dialing the phone for fear of running up bills they won't be able to pay. * Now, a cellular provider late to market might have the answer: metered pay phones. Viva, as the telecom start-up is known, installed more than 25,000 public telephones across the country, often in family-owned businesses such as convenience stores. All the phones are wireless. The businesses buy minutes from * Viva to load up the telephones. The phones have digital meters that show the caller what a call is costing. No fat phone bills at the end of the month. * Viva generates $20 million a year in revenue, and company CEO Juan Pablo Calvo forecasts double-digit growth for this year. "This is something that was designed and made in Bolivia, and that took away the fear of making a call," says Calvo. * The company can attribute part of its growth to its own poor timing. In the 1990s, when Bolivia opened up its telecommunications sector, Viva was one of the last to win a license. With a GSM network in place by 2003 but way behind its competitors, Viva tweaked its plans and began with the phone booths in addition to handsets. "There is no longer an excuse of not having anywhere to call from because there is a call point every two blocks," says Mariana Chispas, a consultant in La Paz.