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Universities and research centers represent a sector at the forefront of telecommunications and online databases in Mexico. Most of these institutions are connected to the Internet and communicate with other academic and research institutions around the world. These non-profit institutions are attempting to extend their communications capabilities. Many offer access to their networks and servers through the Internet.
Most Mexican universities have offered access to the Internet since the mid-70's. In addition, the Secretariat of Communications and Transports (SCT) has provided such access since the late 70's, but only around 3,000 persons had subscribed by September 1985. Lack of proper telephone lines contributed to the low number of subscribers (14).
Mexico is on the threshold of a new era. On January 1, 1997, new telephone companies started offering services to compete against TelMex. The companies that received authorization to operate are currently building their networks. More competition and lower rates will ease access to the Internet and other new telecommunications services.
As most of the information on the Internet is public and not confidential, academic and research institutions have not been concerned with confidentiality or international hackers. However, this situation has changed and many of institutions now use encryption software to protect scientific and technical research information. For academic purposes, this sector mainly obtains strong encryption without charge from firms or through the Internet.
Leading Mexican firms have adopted the use of Intranets, a local area network that uses Internet's infrastructure for internal communication purposes. This will drive up the demand for routers and multiplexers. Another emerging trend in this area is toward the use of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) equipment. ATM equipment is increasingly being used in Mexico. For example, Bank of Mexico (Banco de Mexico - BANXICO), Mexico's central bank, installed its ATM network in late 1995. The National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico - UNAM) and the Technical Institute of Superior Studies of Monterrey (Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey - ITESM) also have their own ATM networks. In addition, the major Mexican banks (BANAMEX, BANCOMER and SERFIN) have expressed their interest in using ATM (15).
Internet Service Providers
Approximately 120 Internet access providers exist in Mexico. Many of these are expected to consolidate as most have fewer than 500 subscribers, thus their costs are high. In addition, TelMex increased their monthly rate for the high-speed lines needed to access the Internet (16).
Internet Users
The Internet access in Mexico has been developed during the last three-five years. The estimated number of Internet users nationwide were about 300,000 during 1996 (17).
In the industrial sector, the main users of electronic information transmission and filing are large corporations, as well as some medium size and small companies. These types of organizations are connected to Internet.
The stabilization of the economy coupled with the government's vigorous economic reforms has created an environment that creates opportunities for US Exporters within the Internet sector. The Mexican market for computers and communication gear grew by 37% in 1997, reaching over US$5 billion. The number of Internet subscribers grew by 116% in 1997 from 1996, to over 400,000 (18).
Last update: December 18, 1998.
