The possibility of accessing the internet is unequal for Mexicans.
Although it is a human right recognized since 2016, Mexico suffers from a digital divide that connects large cities, but neglects people who live in rural communities or without access to infrastructure.
Although the Government of Mexico has several projects to promote Internet connection, private companies are the ones in charge of providing connectivity.
In June 2013, the telecommunications and economic competition reform proposed the creation of a wholesale telecommunications network, which would be obliged to give access to mobile operators, reducing connection costs and encouraging people who were not connected to internet, they could do it at a lower price.
However, the Red Compartida project has significant lags in terms of its deployment and the number of users who connect.
Altán Redes, the public-private entity that was entrusted with the deployment of this network, so far has coverage of 70% of the territory of Mexico, however, it only provides final service to six million users for fixed internet or residential, although a good part of them do so through mobile devices.
"There is no connectivity policy in this administration and so far, although one cannot speak of a failed project, the Red Compartida is insufficient," Michel Hernández Tafoya, general director of Observatel, an association that promotes access to Internet, says in an interview. telecommunications in the country.
Mobile connectivity in Mexico is provided by three large companies in Mexico: América Móvil, owned by billionaire Carlos Slim, which has 62.1% of mobile connections, followed by Telefónica, with 19.4% of users, and the American AT&T, with 15.7% of cell lines.
Virtual Mobile Operators, which do not have their own infrastructure, but can use other networks (such as Telcel or Red Compartida) represent 2.7% of users, that is, just over 3.5 million of lines to the first quarter of 2022, according to the Federal Telecommunications Institute.
Last month, the Federal Institute of Telecommunications granted a four-year extension to Altán Redes and the Telecommunications Investment Promotion Agency (Promtel) to comply with the population coverage of 92.2% of the population, giving the end date of December 24. January 2028. "The extensions of reference limit the operation of the Red Compartida, which distorts the market and fails to comply with the obligation to provide mobile services with greater coverage and capacity," says Francisco Hernández Juárez, secretary of the telephonists' union in an interview. Mexico.
Thus, the deployment of the network will take at least four more years, despite the fact that in the country there is already "leaving Mexicans living in those locations excluded from digital development and well-being, without the full exercise of their fundamental rights enabled because of technologies”, considers Jorge Bravo, President of the Mexican Association for the Right to Information (Amedi).
In addition to the delays in the deployment of the Red Compartida, the public-private association presents several economic problems.
In July 2021, Altán Redes requested a commercial bankruptcy in order to continue the deployment of the network, while in August it obtained a credit from shareholders under the regulation of the Commercial Bankruptcy Law for 50 million dollars, which would help it to maintain network operation.
“It sounds like we will have to rescue a moribund company from the government, which is why we have to guarantee that there is connectivity in remote areas, the main engine of this project,” says Hernández Tafoya.
The constitutional reform considers that the Red Compartida will reduce the cost of a megabyte per minute to a quarter of its value through the investment of 7,000 million dollars for the exploitation of the 700 MHz band, considered to be the highest quality raw material to provide mobile services.
The administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador intends to bring connectivity through CFE Telecomunicaciones and Internet para Todos, a project that would use the deployment of the Red Compartida to reach the most remote municipalities in Mexico.
"The scenario is complex," says the director of Observatel, "because under an environment of inflation, the attractiveness to invest in telecommunications decreases," he comments.
According to an analysis by the analysis firm The Competitive Intelligence Unit, the Red Compartida business model represents an opportunity for the growth of Virtual Mobile Operators, in addition to being an opportunity for other companies to join the provision of services mobiles.
Clothing stores, departmental vacation service companies, pharmacies and others would be the main allies of the Red Compartida.
"The government has to think about other connectivity possibilities, such as community networks, not just pay attention to a single project," concludes Hernández Tafoya.
This type of wholesale network has only been exploited in countries such as Australia and South Africa, while the possibility of deploying a similar network was contemplated in the United States.
Economist Thomas Hazlett warned in an article published in
The Wall Street Journal
that continuing with this model could result in failure, since it would not facilitate investments to promote 5G connectivity.
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