Abstract

Mexico's recent Telecommunications and Broadcasting Reform (1913-1914) and the introduction of the Federal Telecommunications Act (1995), represents the most significant shake-up of the telecommunications industry in the last 24 years, ever since the privatization of public telecommunications firm Telmex (1990). The article begins by presenting international comparisons in order to put Mexico’s performance over these years in context, comparing it to two continents and one subcontinent with large proportions of developing countries: Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The article then presents an analysis of connectivity in Mexico in 2014. Finally, it explores the effects of increased competition in the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors that will be brought about by Mexico's recent Telecommunications Reform, which additionally, includes policy measures to foster digital inclusion. The Reform includes provision for the deployment of a new state-administered wholesale transport network, with making it easier for relatively small local operators to access enhanced 700MHz-band wireless networks and a fiber-optic backbone and the “Mexico Connected” program that provides access to the Internet in government facilities and open public spaces. The telecommunication service markets in Mexico have seen a rise in their contestability, attributable to the institutional strength of the new regulatory framework. The broadcasting service markets are contestable too as a result of the Reform; the announcement that two new TV channels would enter the market, along with the “must carry, must offer” requirement, levels the playing field and ensures greater competition for the future. Unlike the previous case, which is essentially regulatory, the digital inclusion case lies in investment in construction, in the expansion of infrastructure and in the human capital needed to operate this infrastructure and guarantee the benefits of digital inclusion. With regard to the “Mexico Connected” program, is reported an increase of approximately 500%. There is a lack, however, of information on the extent to which these access points are equipped with the necessary infrastructure for the development of the population digital skills, that would foster the adoption of such technologies and trigger a process of economic development.