AFP/Notimex

Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa sets the tone for the Plenipotentiary Conference Working tirelessly to bridge the digital divide

Guadalajara: Mexico’s Silicon Valley the world. Jalisco is home, for example, to Jimena The state of Jalisco boasts many beauty spots, Navarrete, Miss Universe 2010, while Guadalajara from Los Altos, the World Heritage highlands itself is home to Chicharito Hernández, Manchester region with its sweeping agave plantations, United’s goalkeeper, and to Checo Pérez, a Formula 2 to Tequila and all the way to Puerto Vallarta. driver who will move up to Formula 1 next season.” Guadalajara — Mexico’s second largest city Jalisco state and the city of Guadalajara, as the and the capital of the state of Jalisco — is re- President went on to underline, are not only much nowned for its cultural heritage rich in histo- loved, but are also very productive and very hard- ry, traditions and architecture. Guadalajara’s working, especially in producing software and hard- high-tech industry, with high-production ware for telecommunications and more generally for rates of computer components and electronic information technology. Almost half of the world’s goods, including mobile phones, has earned BlackBerries come from Guadalajara, the President this city the nickname of Mexico’s “Silicon added, waving his own BlackBerry handset. “If you Valley”. are holding one now, it was probably made here in Mexico, in this very city,” he said. President Calderón bid a warm welcome to del- President Calderón was speaking from Expo egates from all parts of the world and expressed the Guadalajara, a massive exposition and trade show hope that they would all “be able to enjoy to the full complex considered to be one of Mexico’s most im- the beautiful city of Guadalajara and the great beau- portant Convention Centres, where he inaugurated ty spots of the State of Jalisco”, including its mariachi ITU’s 18th Plenipotentiary Conference on 4 October music, tequila and local delicacies. 2010. He thanked ITU and all its Member States for The President said that “In addition to these choosing Mexico as the venue for a conference that things, Jalisco has also produced some of the most would map out the route for all countries to follow in noteworthy individuals of Mexico and indeed of the coming years. Guadalajara, he said, provided an

4 ITU News  9 | 2010  November 2010 vanced infrastructure. but oftheentire continent”andbecauseofitsad- cause “itisoneofthegreat cities,notonlyofMexico ideal settingforthePlenipotentiaryConference be- of theMexicanRevolution independence and100years Celebrating 200yearsof as ittransforms itselftomeetthefuture. indigenous roots, Mexicoismakingrapid advances the secondquarterof2010.Acountrywithstrong has asolideconomy, withgrowth of7.6percentin cism, voiceopinions,assembleandlive.Thecountry are free electionsandthebasiclibertytoexpress criti- Mexico hasbuiltademocratic country, where there freedom andnationalpride.Overthepast200years, are celebrating thebicentenaryofindependence, Mexico andmanyothercountriesintheAmericas Plenipotentiary Conference meetinginayearwhich The President highlightedthesigni Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón setsthetone fi cance ofthe exercise offreedom ofexpression.” knowledge, informationandthefulldemocratic participate inthisnewrevolution, whichisbasedon people canhaveaccesstothenewtechnologiesand is ourdutytoensure thatnooneisleftout,all those self-samegoalsofjusticeandfairness.Andit are, throughout theworld,avitaltoolforachieving tionary event,itisobviousthattelecommunications plained, “Today, 100yearsonfrom thatgreat revolu- fi of socialrights,justiceandfairnessthattheworld’s Revolution, andPresident Calderón recalled thegoals tween peoplewithandwithoutaccesstoICT. Mexico principle causesofinequality, isthedigitaldividebe- the achievementofequalopportunity, oneofthe and convergence Coverage, competitiveness The Government’s ICT strategy: rst socialrevolution brought tothefore. As heex- The year2010isalsothecentenaryofMexican In today’s world,oneofthemainobstaclesto ITU News  9 |2010  November 2010 5

hemis.fr/AFP AFP 6 technologies inconditionsofcompetitivenessand ple haveaccesstoinformationandcommunication to telecommunicationsandensuringthatallpeo- “This iswhymyGovernmentabsolutelycommitted seen inGreece, Portugal ortheRussianFederation. Netherlands, orthe140percentmobilepenetration penetration ofcountriessuchasDenmarkorthe the countryisstillfaroff37percentbroadband still manyareas inneedofdevelopment.For example, more thantenusersinJuneofthisyear.” went from oneuserper100inhabitantsin2005to there are more than27…Inbroadband Internet,we 17 Internetusersforevery100inhabitants.Today has alsogrown veryconsiderably. In2005,wehad we hadsetfor2012.ThenumberofInternetusers habitants thisyear, already surpassingthetarget for every100inhabitantsin2005to80perin- by more than80percent,havinggonefrom 45users past is workingtirelessly toreduce thatdivide.“Over the Despite thisprogress, thePresident said,there are ITU News fi ve yearswehaveseenmobiletelephonygrow  9 |2010  November 2010 Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón setsthetone lars ofthisstrategy. gence andoptimalcoverage”. Heoutlinedthesixpil- as possibleinconditionsofcompetitiveness,conver- cess totelecommunicationsforasmanyMexicans is committedtotelecommunications,ensuringac- explained, “ThegovernmentofwhichIamthehead competitiveness andconvergence. As thePresident is calledthe“three Cs”—standingforcoverage, services atalowerpricetomore consumers.” telecommunication marketandofferhigher-quality ades, toprovide anunprecedented impetustothe of measures, ofakindnotseeninMexicofordec- fairness. To achievethis,wehaveadoptedanumber sible totalphase-outofanaloguein2015.Adecree ward bysixyearsfrom 2021to2015,withapos- digital terrestrial broadcasting hasbeenbrought for- digital broadcasting Switching from analogueto The strategy adoptedbytheMexicanGovernment First, thedateforswitchingfrom analogueto MKU/AFP

has been passed to initiate the transition process. “In companies will be granted some 20 000 km of op- doing this, Mexico is aligning itself with the other tical fi bre in the network operated by the Federal countries undertaking the transition, which will help Electricity Commission, the national electricity com- to improve competitiveness in the television industry pany. “This means not only millions of dollars of pub- and in broadcasting in general, improve signal qual- lic revenue from fi bre-optic leasing charges, but also, ity and enrich television programme content, while and most importantly, it will help us to establish a at the same time promoting technological conver- new communication backbone that will provide us gence and growth in telecommunication services,” with a third national trunk network for Internet and the President explained. broadband services throughout the country,” the President explained. The new backbone will come Releasing more spectrum for into service in the second half of 2011, and is ex- advanced mobile telephony pected to increase competition among long-distance The decree, issued by the President and published voice, data and video carriers. in September 2010, also mandates the auction of 108 MHz in the 700 MHz band to market stakehold- Impact of recent spectrum auctions ers by 2012 — this being one of the most highly val- Third is the completion of the spectrum auctions ued frequency bands for mobile broadband services. in the 1.7 and 1.9 GHz bands. This makes available “In making this effort, Mexico is staying on course to to the market an additional 90 MHz — almost 60 per fulfi l ITU’s Recommendations on spectrum availability cent more than the spectrum previously used for mo- for users of these services,” the President said. bile services. The main aim of these auctions, which were ap- A new fi bre-optic network to proved by the Federal Competition Commission, is to boost broadband services strengthen the market, strengthen competition, and Second, in order to promote competitiveness break down the barriers for those wishing to enter through a new telecommunication backbone in the competitive market in Mexican telecommunica- Mexico, a tender is being put out, and the winning tions. As the President put it, the process has left the

ITU News  9 | 2010  November 2010 7 AFP

country’s coffers better off. It has also signifi cantly further, bringing telecommunications to the most re- increased the amount of spectrum available to all op- mote and inaccessible communities. erators. Furthermore, it has transformed the mobile telephony market in Mexico. From one dominant op- Expanding WiMAX erator, there are now four wholly national operators Sixth, negotiations are ongoing with the current competing with each other on equal terms. concession holders of the 2.5 band, with a view to converting it to WiMAX use throughout the country Number portability and in the main cities, in the hope of further expand- Fourth, for two years now the country has had ing Internet access. number portability in the mobile sphere. This allows “We are working to offer Mexican consumers users to change their telephone service providers, good quality telecommunication services at better and be more demanding about service quality and prices and without privileges. We know, however, price. “These measures will allow us to consolidate that this is not enough to bridge the digital divide, a telecommunication market that has grown at an and this is why the Government is also working hard annual rate of over 10 per cent in the past fi ve years. on programmes relating to coverage and social con- They will also help enhance service penetration, par- nectivity”, said the President. ticularly in rural areas where people have less pur- chasing power.” Community access Companies have contracts to provide public te- New satellites to be launched lephony, home telephones and Internet to more Fifth, a process has started to pave the way for than 11 000 small towns (500–2500 inhabitants) Mexico to launch three new satellites, chiefl y for se- across the country. Almost 200 000 lines have been curity purposes, but also to take full advantage of installed so far for more than 7 million Mexicans liv- the L-Band, which Mexico is entitled to use, and ing in these marginalized communities. Community- to strengthen the telecommunication market even access telephony services are being provided in even

8 ITU News  9 | 2010  November 2010 The e-MexicoSystem with fewresources. have beendevelopedtoprovide broadband tousers e smaller localities(100–500inhabitants)fortheben- course, totheInternet,andcantakepartintheirper- only totelevision,radio andtelephony, butalso,of nications, canhaveaccess,onequitableterms,not that theleastwell-offcanhaveaccesstotelecommu- Calderón, “theGovernmentofMexicoisworkingso crucial stepinguaranteeing socialconnectivity. and toalmost10000governmentof mote medicalconsultationsindistantcommunities; 24 000healthfacilities,enablingustoprovide re- educational centres, schoolsanduniversities;to nication servicestoover122000ofthecountry’s ernmental e-MexicoSystem isbringingtelecommu- fi t of4millionmore Mexicans,andnewprojects Through thesocialcoverage networks,thegov- “In pursuingtheseactions”,saidPresident Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón setsthetone fi ces. Thisisa tion andcommunicationtechnologies.” cludes nobody, butnobody, from accesstoinforma- more andbettercommunicationinaworldthatex- “make great stridestowards attainingourgoalof ITU andconsolidateitsrole, butwouldalsohelpto conference wouldnotonlyendeavourtostrengthen boards fordevelopment”hesaid,addingthatthe crave, inwhichinformationandculture are spring- build thefairandequitableMexicoworldwe cation technologiesformthebasisonwhichwecan Mexico andworldwide.“Informationcommuni- particularly bythemostunderprivilegedpeoplein the world,andtopromote andfacilitatetheiruse, needed tostrengthen telecommunicationsaround telecoms around theworld A callfordecisionstostrengthen information andcommunicationtechnologies”. sonal developmentandinthatofthecountry, using He urged theconference totakethedecisions ITU News  9 |2010  November 2010 9

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