Mexico is planning to make an investment of around 30 billion pesos ($1.5 billion) to boost internet connectivity, especially in rural areas, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.
“You can’t even talk on the mobile phone, let alone (use) the internet (outside cities),” he told a news conference. He said millions of Mexicans still do not have access to mobile coverage or internet and fresh investments were needed.
About 66 percent of households in Mexico have internet access, according to the latest official data from IFT, the country’s telecommunications regulator.
This week IFT said that one in five indigenous people, who largely live in remote areas, still do not have access to any mobile service technology, or about 2 million people, Reuters news report said.
In 2016, the government tasked telecommunications company Altan Redes with developing a wholesale national mobile network that promised 92.2 percent coverage by January 2024, a deadline that was later extended to 2028.
However, the company filed for bankruptcy last year, prompting the state to bail it out and become its majority stakeholder.
Last month, the Mexican president said the takeover of the Shared Network would help secure internet access in all towns and offer free Wi-Fi in public spaces.
“[Altan] got 70 percent of the way with building the general Wi-Fi network, but it didn’t reach the last mile. That was a start, and we’re going to amplify it,” the president said on Wednesday.
He promised government handouts to help people afford the internet. “We want everyone, especially those most remote and especially students, to have access to the internet.”
