The Internet in Latin America:
A detailed look at the cases of Mexico and Uruguay

Columbus II

Mexico: Electronic Infrastructure

        Mexico’s electronic infrastructure is highly developed and mostly privatized. Mexico is very well connected internationally, both through satellite connections including 32 Intelsat satellites, 2 Solidaridad satellites, and several Inmarsat mobile satellite stations, as well as fiber optic cable lines such as the Columbus II. The Columbus II allows flow of traffic from Mexico to The United States, Europe, and through those, the rest of the world. Because of their geographic proximity and high reciprocal traffic, Mexico and the United States share connections across the borders of Texas and Nuevo Leon and California and Baja California via a fiber optic cable network (as well as many slower connections).  Mexico is also linked to the Central American Microwave System of trunk connections.

          Mexico’s international electronic infrastructure is somewhat misleading regarding the state of its national electronic infrastructure. Although Mexico’s urban centers are well connected, with a large Fiber Optic Truncal Network between the cities of Monterrey, Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Cancun, Smaller cites and rural areas depend highly on telephone lines and small satellite receivers for connectivity. This is in part due to the fact that population density in Mexico is extremely skewed, with 30% of the population living in Monterrey, Mexico, and Guadalajara alone. In the major cities, Internet with speeds ranging from 56k to super fast T1 lines are readily available, whereas in most rural and smaller urban areas dial up internet is the only service available if at all. As of 2005, Mexico had approximately 19.9 million ground telephone lines and 56 million cellular telephone lines which could potentially be used to connect the internet. Of the estimated 14.8 million internet capable computers in Mexico, about 8.7 million are connected to the internet.


References:

http://www.banderas.com.mx/hist__de_internet.htm