Networked Society

        The Internet usage is rapidly increasing in Mexico. The number of internet users shows a consistent growth over the last few years. Business and non-governmental organizational presence on the web is increasing, and the Mexican government is innovatively using the Web to broaden the contact with its citizens. This section assesses Mexico’s readiness for the networked world by examining how many people use the internet, how they use them and usage of the internet when compared to the outside world.

People and Organizations Online (Stage 3)

        According to survey conducted by AMIPCI (Mexican Internet Association) in May 2007, the total number of internet users was estimated to be 22.7 million people. Around 21% of total population is using the internet^4.1

Internet Usage and Population Growth:

Mexico is among the top 20 countries with highest number of internet users.^4.2

        Although there is a rapid increase, there is wide disparity among the people using the internet. Socioeconomics status remains the primary cause of the digital divide, with the percentage of individuals from lower socioeconomic groups who use ICT technology is well below the national average.^4.3 90 percent of all Latin Americans users were from upper-middle class with high socio-economic status, while 80 percent users were fluent in English.^4.4. Poverty remains widespread in Mexico, affecting 50% of the population, and 1 in 6 Mexicans lives in extreme Poverty (OECD, 2005).

The use of Internet by people with different occupations^4.5

        As indicated by the above chart, the majority of internet users are Employees and Students.  The country has a greater age divide than gender divide. Younger Mexicans make up the majority of the Internet users in the country. According to 2004 survey- 47% people are from (13-24 years), 42% are from (25-45 years) and 11% over 45 years ^4.5  The report states that 45 percent of Mexican households had at least one member with exposure to the Internet.^4.6 41% of the Internet users in Mexico are female ^4.7 Mexican domain names are denoted by “.mx”. The “.mx” domain registration has spread out in the last 2 years at a higher rate of acceleration with 100,000 domain names in the last 2 years. As of May 2007,  NIC MEXICO, the official registry for “.mx”, announced that it has reached the historic number of 200,000 domain names registered under “.mx”.^4.8 Another important development is in the growth in the dot.org space to more than double those of dot.gov registrations.

Source NIC- Mexico

This shows that a variety of non-governmental organizations, charities, political groups, etc. are establishing a presence online - a sort of flowering Mexican online civil society.^4.9

Relevant Internet Content: (Stage 3)

 Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the World. Spanish is the third most populous Language on the internet^4.10 .There are a number of search engines in Mexico such as American Online Mexico (http://busqueda.aol.com.mx),  Latin World, Mexico connect, Yahoo Mexico  (http://mx.yahoo.com/, Google, MSN, AltaVista.  About 85% of the population use Google as a search engine ^4.5

The general development of internet websites in the Spanish-speaking countries is tremendous. Mexico has relatively well-developed collections of local websites, in the sense that some of these local websites have the coverage, depth and sophistication of the pan-regional powerhouses^4.11. Mexican newspapers, television and radio stations are all represented on the web. Some have content update in real time or daily. Even local content is available; it is not accessed by all levels of society.

ICTs in Everyday Life: (Stage 3)

The Information Communication Technology sector in Mexico is an emerging industry with great potential for a future boom. The value of the ICT sector was US$34.7 billion in 2006, representing an increase of 14.3% over 2005 totals ^4.12. As of 2006, the ICT market still faces considerable challenges due to the profound economic, social, and cultural and political differences.

Fixed Line, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Mobile Technology are some of the modes of telecommunication available in Mexico. The cellular telephone sector has experience explosive growth in recent years and is one of the most dynamic telecommunications sector in Mexico. Driven by a blooming GSM (Global Software for Mobile Communications) market, Mexico mobile industry is growing yearly rate of around 22% reaching around 49% penetration by September 2006 ^4.3.  Between 2003 and 2006, Mexican mobile operators upgraded their networks to offer high-capacity and high-speed data services. According to Europa World plus (2005): the number of users of Telephone is 19.512.0(‘000 main lines in use), Mobile phones subscribers are 47,462.1(‘000 subscriber), Personal computers 14,000 (‘000 in use), and Internet users are 18,622.5(‘000 in use) ^4.13.                                                                            

As indicated by the figure below, as of 2005 more than 600 of 1000 people use Telephone (both fixed line and Mobile) while less than 200 of 1000 people use internet.

Number of people using ICT ^4.14        

Users who access the Internet from home are quite small and growth is slower than growth in users in all categories. According to a survey conducted by AMIPCI, about 43% of the population who use the internet access from home, about 39% access from an Internet café ^4.15. Much of the growth of internet users is harder to track since it is concentrated in the Internet café space. Average Monthly web pages visited per user in Mexico is  1,674 which is one among the lowest in Latin American countries where Brazil leads by 3,371 average monthly pages visited per user ^4.16.

According 2004 survey, around 88% of Mexicans read and send email via internet while 61% use it for chatting purposes.  People still use it for different purposes such as Entertainment, pay services, to buy products etc.  This is a good sign for the growth of the ICT in Mexico.

With respect to Internet banking:   only 48% use the internet to perform banking transactions.  The main reasons the majority of internet users refuse to use the internet is shown below        

ICT diffusion among the general population is still low in Mexico when compared to most other OECD countries.  ICT uptake is highest in urban areas, although government initiatives such as the Digital Community Centers are improving coverage in rural areas, providing connectivity and computer access free of charge.  ICT in everyday life is continuing to increase when compared to previous years, but still faces challenges due to profound economic, social, cultural and political differences.

Workplace usage of Information and communication Technologies: (Stage 3)

ICT diffusion in large companies in Mexico is high compared to general ICT diffusion. However, general ICT diffusion is still low and concentrated in urban areas and companies depend on well connected customers in order to sell products online and provide services. Business Internet Penetration in Mexico is relatively high.  90% of businesses had Internet access in 2003, 46% had broadband access and 52% had their own website, placing Mexican business in the middle ranks of OECD countries. ^4.17

A survey was conducted in 2005 to both large and small firms. It found that Mexico and many other countries firms used e-mail, intranet, Extranet and other tools such as electronic funds transfer and call centers ^4.18.

   Source: Niels Bjørn-Andersen/CRITO

Of the Mexican corporations that use internet, 79% have set up their own website. Most website contains information on the company. The main purpose of using the above tools is given below.

Purpose of using the Internet (2005)  

% of firms using the internet for: Mexico

About 73% are used for Advertising and Marketing purposes. Other interactive activities such as the purchase of and customer support for products/services are also included. When coming to ICT penetration by size of company

As mentioned above, medium and large company’s employees have more access to PC and Internet when compared to small companies. Even though organizations deploying ICT systems in their internal process are increasing in Mexico, they lag behind many of the OECD countries. Only 50% of the employees have internet access from their workstations. According recent study, nearly half of the companies surveyed did not believe that ICT technologies had any significant impact on business efficiency. The Low awareness among the population must change in order to make use of impacts and benefits of Information Communication Technology. ^4.3