Case Study: LOCAL delivers affordable rural connectivity with Ericsson

Growing operator LOCAL, works with Ericsson to build on the opportunities in rural Brazil

LOCAL, Brazil, a start-up owned by Ruralfone, USA, focused on serving low-income and remote communities in rural Brazil with affordable telephony services. Its challenge was to build a sustainable, low-cost network model for underserved areas while keeping operational expenses minimal and creating a profitable business in a market often bypassed by major operators. Ericsson supported LOCAL with business planning before launch and supplied the GSM radio access and core network.

Ericsson helped LOCAL implement a decentralized, low-opex business model using mature GSM technology and a creative retail strategy tailored to low-income users. The results were strong: LOCAL launched successfully in Quixadá, served 75,000 residents, improved local business activity and communication, and proved the model scalable by signing a new Ericsson contract to expand to 30 more villages.