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Digital divide in Mexico
The digital divide in Mexico can be "framed as a tension between ruling groups and undeserved sectors of the population or between well‐established socioeconomic forces and emerging trends." It is a very "complex socio‐technical phenomenon with three main streams of influential factors: a technical stream; oppression of market forces by a duopoly that controls the infrastructure, a macro‐economic stream; wealth inequality, inadequate government regulation and inconsistent foreign direct investment, and a social stream; a generational gap when it comes to digital and technological literacy." While the origin of the term digital divide remains uncertain, it can be noted that the term was used for the first time in the "mid-nineties in an official report by the National Information Administration and Telecommunications of the Department of Commerce of the States United." Initially, the digital divide was related to the "inequality between those who had or did not have physical access to ICTs," however, it wasn't until "Pipa Norris who constructed the concept to include the implementation of gaps: the social gap, as the difference in access to information among the poor and rich in each country; the global gap, as the difference between developed and developing countries in the use of ICT; and the democratic gap, as the difference between those who use ICT to mobilize and participate in the public sphere." Thus, the digital divide has been defined as the "gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographical areas at different levels."

Access to technology, a right identified by both the UN and the Mexican Constitution, has become a "transversal enabler of other rights." Efforts to tackle these issues include the administration of "President Peña Nieto, who has set a priority to remove the barriers that prevent digital inclusion, among which are the lack of infrastructure, since Mexico occupied the penultimate place of public investment per capita in telecommunications within the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and was one of the lowest private investment nations due to insufficient competition in the markets, as well as digital illiteracy, given that even those who have access to technology require digital skills that allow them to be used meaningfully, so the introduction of technology in formal education is a priority."

However, ultimately, the divide within Mexico can be the result of different reasons including "consequences of poverty and income inequality, lack of digital literacy, generational gap, as well as infrastructure."

Poverty and income inequality
Poverty in Mexico is "complex and widely extensive." The factors influencing the state of poverty in this country include "geographical area and proximity to urban centers, ethnicity, and gender." As a result of these factors, there exists a shortage of available income that would be used for food, education, attire, housing, and transportation. Although there is much poverty in the country, poverty in itself does not stop from Mexicans accessing basic services, however, it is this theme that may reflect some of the major reasons why it is that less than "2% of Mexico's population lives below the international poverty line set by the World Bank, as of 2013." Mexico's government estimates that "33% of Mexico's population lives in moderate poverty and 9% lives in extreme poverty." Wealth inequality in Mexico is extremely high and although Mexico is among the top "14 richest countries as calculated by GDP, over half the population lives in poverty due to the gap between the wealthy and the poor." Such extreme differences in wealth have ranked Mexico in the world’s "top 25 percent of unequal countries and joint least equitable among members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development."

Location
More commonly does the recurring theme in Latin America be the challenge of bringing the Internet to areas that are not equipped with the resources large cities have. In Mexico, the "rural and indigenous areas of the country are the most affected." Part of the problem is because of infrastructure due to the many profitable telecommunications companies yearning to largely invest in urban areas where there is a potential for growth. According to the National Survey on Availability and Usage of Information Technologies in Households prepared by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), "71.2% of the Mexican population in urban areas aged 6 and over said to be Internet users - a stark contrast with the 39.2% who stated the same in rural areas." The Mexican states with the "smallest technological gap are Baja California, with 81% of users in urban areas and 69% in rural populations, and Morelos with 68% and 59%."

Education
Mexico has made an important effort so that the majority of its children have at least the "first nine years of basic education, proof of which is that in 2015 99% were enrolled in primary school and 88% in secondary school." Mexico remains in first place in terms of the number of graduates enrolled, according to the Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos (OEI) study. At the end of 2015, "100% of enrollees obtained their primary certificate, while at the secondary level they reached 96%."

Age
In Mexico, "57.4% of the population has access to internet services, which represents 62 million people, however one problem is that the largest group that enjoys this access are Mexicans under the age of 35, which account for 70% of Mexican citizens and almost 40% of households that have an Internet connection." Mexicans who have access to the Internet are users whose ages range between "12 and 34 years." This group of users is composed of "students, professionals and workers using ICT in their business, which represents a 64.6% of Internet users." Mexicans between "35 to 44 years old represent the 12.5%, users of the age range of 45-54 years represent the 7.7%, and children 6 to 11 years constitute 11.4% of total users." Behind in the use of technologies is people over "55, of which only 3.8% use the Internet."

Gender
While the gender gap between men and women in the use of the Internet has typically been known to be prominent, in the last decade the gap has declined. Currently, "51% of Internet users in Mexico are men, while 49% are women." Despite this, there is still a gender gap that must be reduced, "since while 60% of men are Internet users, only 54% of women are Internet users." The main finding in terms of gender is that the "Internet is a tool used by women to reduce the inequalities they face." A clear example of this is that "women make more intensive use of the Internet than men in only two activities: education and information search on health."

Language
Over "93% of Mexicans speak Spanish." As of 2005, "12.3 percent of the population speaking indigenous languages did not speak Spanish." Some "6.7 percent" of the total population uses the indigenous languages." The most used indigenous languages are "Amuzgo, Tzotzil, and Tzeltal." The country is predominantly "ethnically mixed, with indigenous people accounting for only 10 percent of the entire population."

Knowledge society
Unesco defines a knowledge society as "one where it is possible to navigate freely between information flows and develop cognitive and critical skills that allow us to distinguish between useful and non-useful information, both in the economic and in the humanistic sense." In a networked society, "information flows come and go freely, each individual is exposed to large amounts of information that does not guarantee its use to the full potential." The United Nations Development Program mentions that "ICT is an indispensable instrument for the fight against poverty throughout the world, as well as being a relevant factor for economic and social development." In Mexico, the Government promotes the use of ICTs from the National Development Plan. It is that of "equality of opportunities which is mentioned as an objective of educational transformation, promote the development and use of new technologies in the education system to support the insertion of students in the knowledge society and expand their abilities to life." Additionally, "competitive economy and employment generation, establishes as one of its strategies the implementation of programs that facilitate the entry of workers and their families into the knowledge society through credit schemes and training for the efficient use of ICTs." Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México's Development Plan includes among its "guidelines: improving the quality and relevance of the training programs for students and increasing equity in access to those methods, technologies and elements that favor their preparation and performance." As such, significant progress has been made by having a comprehensive "telecommunications network, technological equipment and educational platforms at all levels that have open digital educational content and promote greater distribution of knowledge, products, collections and services through online applications." That being said, it can be affirmed that UNAM has provided access to ICTs for its students as a way to diminish the digital divide in Mexico.

Monopolies
As a result of the lack of competition in the telecommunications and internet service providers, many Mexicans continue to see the effects of the Digital Divide. Individuals like Carlos Slim who is known to be the richest man in Latin America and in the world, has had many years of control on the telecommunications market. Among many of his businesses, Telmex is one of his best investments which dominate phone and internet business in Mexico. The "IFT16 declared America Movil and Televisa as the dominant players in the telecommunications sector in Mexico." America Movil through Telcel and Telmex accounts for "70% of the mobile market and around 70% of the fixed market." On the other hand, with a market share of "67%, Televisa dominates television and broadcasting service."

Broadband infrastructure
One of the elements that could be an acceptable position from the policy development perspective is to ensure that "the Mexican government takes care of the infrastructure thread of the digital divide, expanding broadband and other technologies that can be used to access the internet." Being that access to broadband has a positive impact on economic growth, it has been through a "study carried out by the Inter-American Development Bank4 (IDB) where it was discovered that, in Latin America and the Caribbean, a 10% increase in broadband penetration could raise the region's GDP by 3.19%, productivity by 2.61% and contribute to the creation of new jobs." The expansion of "telecommunications networks contributes to the generation of jobs directly in the construction and operation of networks." An "adequate strategy for expanding broadband and accessing ICTs is necessary for social inclusion." In its efforts, "educational services benefits from an expansion of the telecommunications infrastructure, therefore including broadband services promotes the generation and appropriation of knowledge."

While in most countries that are exposed to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in Mexico, there are almost "3 wireless broadband subscriptions for every 4 inhabitants, which is a percentage of about 14% —almost 1 subscription for every 7 inhabitants." Despite there being a lack of fiber optic infrastructure to transmit data and offer cheaper services with better quality, "currently the Mexican government holds a core network of fiber optic of about 25,500 kilometers and by the end of 2018, it aims to own 82,500 kilometers."

Connecting Mexicans
While the lack of "Internet access in households is severe and the government’s aim to reach 70% of them seems far away," there has been some efforts to increase connectivity by building a network of community centers dedicated to electronic learning in some of the "country’s most disadvantaged and isolated neighborhoods." In order to combat the fact that "Mexico is below the world average where statistics such as INEGI report that 41.6 million people in the country have access to Internet-based services and 47 million of people have access at the computer," "programs and educational centres have been built by Enova, a social enterprise devoted to bringing technology to Mexicans." The network of centres, called the "Learning and Innovation Network or Red de Innovación y Aprendizaje (RIA), comprises some 209 classrooms, 2,514 computers and 25 specialised digital libraries, which contain 50 classrooms, 1,200 computers and 125 tablets."

Public access
To get more citizens online, the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto has invested nearly "$1 billion US dollars in its Mexico Conectado initiative since 2013, adding broadband connections to libraries, schools, hospitals and other public facilities nationwide, particularly in poor and rural areas." Since 2013, over "5,000 rural public schools have gotten internet connections and 710,000 tablets" were distributed to classrooms as part of the government’s Mexico Conectado program. Additionally, there are already some "seminal experiences, for example, the city of Monterrey has several hot spots in the Macroplaza and in the parks of the city, and in April 2007, the government of the Federal District signed an agreement with the Chinese company ZTE to install the infrastructure that allows Mexico City to be a wireless city."

In the specific case of the population of José María Morelos, in the south of the state of Quintana Roo, "communities use the Internet according to contextual conditions: buy 3G data to access the Internet according to their economic capacity, go to the cybercafé or in the case of the university, generate different connection strategies, for example, to connect in the early mornings where there is more bandwidth."

Digital literacy
Digital Literacy refers to the "exponential growth of information available and accessible in any format" One of the objectives of establishing literacy strategies in Mexico is to "achieve digital inclusion that, although it does not presuppose social inclusion, if it is related to knowing what use is made of ICT tools in key aspects of the exercise of citizenship, as autonomy, collaborative work, knowledge generation, social integration." The barriers that exist in Mexico to close the digital divide is to "provide internet coverage to remote areas, mountains, forests, jungles, and Islands however, the cost to achieve it is very high." In addition, the need for "training in digital skills from formal education, is limited by the lack of ICT infrastructure in schools at the administrative, academic and student level."

Mexico has participated in "political initiatives in order to promote the inclusion of technology in the classroom and the educational process." The Digital Inclusion and Literacy Program (PIAD) aimed at "establishing a National Digital Strategy to accelerate the insertion of Mexico in society of knowledge." The purpose of this is that through "digitalization, the economic, social and political impact is maximized in benefit of the quality of life of the people; in one of its objectives aimed at education, it is proposed to increase the performance and educational offer, through providing digital skills to teachers and students with the help of personal devices such as portable computers and tablets." Overall, the PIAD seeks to "reduce the inequality gap that represents access to information and communication technologies."

Legal and constitutional efforts
Since 2001, the Federal Government of Mexico created the "National System e-Mexico as the coordinating agency to promote the country's transition towards the Information and Knowledge Society, establishing three guiding axes or basic strategies: a) connectivity, related to universal access through networks of social coverage to internet of broadband in schools, health centers, government offices and community centers; b) digital content and services, linked with facilitating access to the rural population, to those with lower incomes and vulnerable groups to contents, procedures and digital services in matter of education, economy, government, health, employment, security, culture and entertainment; and c) systems that promote social inclusion, associated both with the promotion of the capacities for the management of ICT as the establishment of spaces with computers and access to Internet." For its implementation, the National Digital Strategy (EDN) was established as one of its strategic programs, with which it seeks to "give continuity to previous IT policy initiatives promote the adoption and development of ICT." The "EDN constitutes an action plan to provide connectivity, inclusion and digital skills, interoperability, legal framework, and open data."

Another result in the Government of Mexico's efforts in combating the digital divide is the creation of the "Red Compartida which is a project developed as a self-financing public-private partnership that will offer mobile broadband services to more than 92 percent of the population." On November 17, 2016, Mexico’s Ministry of Communications and Transportation announced that the "ALTÁN Consortium won the international tender process for Red Compartida." The new wholesale network is "expected to begin operations by March 31, 2018, covering 30% of the Mexican population." The network will grow to provide services nationwide using "all-IP network and 4G-LTE technology on the 700 MHz spectrum band, reaching 92.2% of the Mexican population." The network concession is for a term of "20 years with an option to extend for another 20 years." On March 30, 2017, "ALTÁN Networks was formally established as the operator of Red Compartida thus completing the administrative process in relation to the mandate awarded through the public tender in November 2016, and the signing of the Public-Private Partnership in January 2017."

Public projects such as the "Telecommunications Reform and the National Digital Strategy are essential factors to boost the Information Technology (IT) industry in Mexico," which would also contribute to the elimination of digital divide. With a budget of "25.8 million pesos, the goal of the Strategy is that within a period of 60 months Mexico will become the most connected country in Latin America, detonating the entire deployment of infrastructure already indicated at the beginning, based on its management in five areas: connectivity, inclusion of digital skills, technological interoperability, legal framework and open data policies."

Contradictions
The Federal Government announced a project called "México Conectado through which they intended to start a full deployment of the broadband network in public spaces, schools and government centers in the country." During the projects first few weeks, it can be confirmed that in more cases than desired, connecting in town ultimately became problematic where servers did not assign IP addresses, internet became exploited from home versus in public spaces, downloading files over P2P networks and watching online videos or downloading software ultimately had major negative effects on the projects connection.