‘Critical Deficits’ in Mexico’s Internet and Free Speech Policies, Aspen Institute Report Finds
When Mexican President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto takes office Dec. 1, there could be an opportunity to effect change in the country’s approach to Internet connectivity and speech issues, officials said at an Aspen Institute forum. Aspen’s Communications and Society program and Grupos Salinas and Caminos de la Libertad released a report Monday detailing what the groups believe are “critical deficits” in Mexico’s current policies on those issues (http://xrl.us/bnr7x8). Alec Ross, senior innovation advisor to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said the challenge Mexico faces is the same one the rest of the world faces -- how to make the business and academic environments as data-rich as possible.
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Mexico’s lack of a well-developed telecom infrastructure has been a key barrier to connectivity and economic advancement there, the report said. Much of the infrastructure that exists is concentrated, leaving large disparities between the nation’s urban and rural areas, the report said. It said the U.S. State Department has found Mexico’s fixed-line density is 18 percent, well below Latin America’s average. Slightly more than 30 percent of Mexico’s population is connected to the Internet, while 10 percent has broadband, according to the report. More than half of the 34.9 million Internet users in Mexico access the Internet from places outside their home, such as Internet cafes, the report said. By contrast, there are more than 90 million mobile subscriptions in Mexico -- and mobile penetration is 75 percent, according to the report.
"If you live in an environment where bandwidth is scarce and expensive, then you're not going to be able to compete to the degree to which your global competitors are,” Ross said. The report recommended Mexico develop a national consensus and plan for the digital society, develop a digital infrastructure plan, develop a “culture of innovation,” develop “an ecosystem for investment in innovation” and more fully support the freedom to communicate. Released in English Monday, the study is set to be released in Spanish Oct. 8 and will be presented to Peña Nieto’s transition team, Grupo Salinas CEO Ricardo Salinas said.
If we want to build a better life in Mexico ... we're going to have to build a better communications infrastructure,” said Sergio Sarmiento, a journalist with Grupo Salinas-owned TV Azteca. South Korea invested heavily in its Internet infrastructure, allowing it to go from being three times poorer than Mexico in the 1950s to three times wealthier than Mexico today, he said. “The fact that they've had the vision, that they realized that the Internet was a key to the future is very important."
Recent events and government policies have threatened freedom of expression in Mexico, Sarmiento said. The report recommended the government revisit a Mexican electoral reform law passed in 2007 “to lessen its damaging impact on political discourse and free expression in Mexico.” All governments are grappling with how to handle Internet governance, Ross said. “The 21st century is a terrible time to be a control freak.”