The new government, headed by the virtual president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, will face several challenges such as the digital empowerment of the population and identifying the needs of the telecommunications sector that are a fundamental basis for taking advantage of opportunities such as nearshoring.
We have a new government that is beginning to understand what the agenda is, what the priorities are going to be for the sector,” considered the director for Latin America of GSMA, Lucas Gallitto.
When talking with Excelsior, considered that one of the priorities for the new administration will undoubtedly be closing the connectivity gap in the country. This is because Mexico has a supply coverage gap close to 7%, which can be closed through greater investment in infrastructure, either with Fifth Generation (5G) networks or even satellite.
In fact, the virtual President-elect during her campaign promised the launch of a new satellite intended to bring internet services to the most remote regions of the country.
However, Gallitto considered that the most important thing will be to digitally empower the population because currently the country has a usage gap close to 38%, that is, people who have the ability to pay or who live under mobile broadband coverage and do not uses it.
It doesn’t matter what connectivity comes with if people don’t know how to use it, they don’t know how to use the internet. There I think there is an opportunity for digital skills empowerment policies,” she recommended.
Although he accepted that several operators and technology companies offer digital skills tools, he considered that a comprehensive policy is needed from the Mexican government so that people really find value in using the Internet and the creation of relevant local content is promoted.
More certainty
Gallitto considered that a more prepared population, greater coverage and more certainty related to public policies are key to taking advantage of other opportunities.
If we do not have the capacity to have robust networks that offer these services, the benefits of adopting the technology will be truncated or limited. nearshoring”, he highlighted.
For this reason, the manager recalled that the cost of the radio spectrum in Mexico continues to be very high and the new administration has the opportunity to make changes in this regard.
Even as a money-raising tool, current spectrum policy is bad. The government is collecting less money this year than it collected the previous year,” he recalled.
Gallitto considered that the country can learn from other cases in the region such as Panama, which managed to reduce spectrum prices by 63%.
Another opportunity is that Mexico supported, together with Brazil, the identification of spectrum for new generation networks, such as the 6 GHz band.
Regarding the future of the telecommunications industry in Mexico, he was confident that it will be positive because the country is participating in the Open Gateway initiative that seeks to use APIs in operators’ networks to find new use cases and monetization.
We already have commercial solutions in Brazil, while Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Peru are countries that are in the process of implementation. I believe that in the short term we will also be able to see commercial solutions available from Open Gateway in Mexico,” he added.
Such solutions could focus on 5G networks and industries such as banking, particularly to address fraud.
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2024-06-10 14:06:55