Mexico. As every year and for exactly half a century, the International Telecommunication Union (telecom arm of the UN), marks the anniversary of Internet Day, but also the Day of Telecommunications and the Information Society (which has been celebrated since 1969) and that recover the commemoration of the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention carried out in 1865, a foundation that defines the way networks between countries are interconnected.
In these first 50 years of effort, Internet Day is useful for users, operators, industry chambers, public institutions and society as a whole, for the counting of progress, but also of the pending issues and the necessary strategies on the way to full democratization in the use and exploitation of connectivity among the population.
Advances in Connectivity
According to INEGI, in its National Survey on Availability and Use of Information Technologies in Households (ENDUTIH) 2018, in Mexico there are 74.3 million Internet users or Internet users aged six or more, that is, 65.8% of the population in that age range and growing 4.2% compared to 2017.
In terms of households, the volume that has Internet via a fixed or mobile connection amounts to 18.3 million or 52.9% of the national total, a figure 5.4% higher than that reported during a year ago.
Where there is an explosion in adoption and daily use is in Mobile Broadband. The current number of mobile Internet users reaches 84.2 million in the first quarter of 2019, which is equivalent to an access level of 66.7% of the total population.
This derives from the notorious drop in prices of mobile navigation services, the continuous increase in the number of cell lines, as well as smartphones, and the significant social adoption of services (transport such as Uber, purchase of goods and services on e-commerce platforms, movie tickets, access to internet video platforms, etc.) by the bulk of society.
Indeed, the massification of mobile equipment and the growing capacity to download data, results in that among mobile users 88.1% use their Smartphone to surf the Internet, with an active base of 106.3 million devices.
Digital Divide: Pending Issue
This scenario of increasing access to connectivity is certainly encouraging.
However, a significant digital divide persists, defined according to international metrics, such as the difference between the percentage of the population or households (not in the territory) that has connectivity services and those that do not have access.
In this way, one in three Mexicans (33.3%) or approximately half (47.1%) of households are in a condition that we can call "digital disability".
For the entire population to have availability and access to the Internet, it is necessary not only to have optimal conditions in quality and price, but also to make these services accessible in remote and sparsely populated localities. The route is to generate the incentives for the deployment of infrastructure.
That is a complex and costly task, but not unattainable for society. The cost to cover this infrastructure deficit and close the digital divide amounts to $187.5 billion pesos.
This amount must derive from the generation of the right incentives and the necessary legal certainty, supported by the tools of operational efficiency of the market, from the promotion of effective competition, complemented by the efforts and strategic alliances of private agents and public entities.
The route of optimization of the exercise of investments to cover the pending subjects in connectivity is one in which private agents are responsible for the realization of resources and provision of services, under government accompaniment and supervision.
Text written by Ernesto Piedras of The Competitive Intelligence Unit.
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