The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently published the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), noting that Mexico has not realized its digital potential and instead fell 16 places, from 63 to 79 among 148 countries considered.
In its “Global Information Technology Report 2014,” the WEF commented that after a couple of years of important improvements in this ranking — which measures the capacity of 148 economies to leverage Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to achieve growth and well-being — Mexico failed to consolidate its past gains and dropped 16 positions, landing at 79.
In Latin America, Mexico ranked below Chile (35), Panama (43), Costa Rica (53), Uruguay (56), Colombia (63), and Brazil (69). Despite some progress in expanding and improving its ICT infrastructure and individual uptake, that is not enough to match advances in other economies.
What the WEF analysis omits, however, are the efforts currently underway. First, Mexico’s digital divide — the distinction between those who have Internet access and can use the new services offered by the World Wide Web, and those excluded from them — has narrowed considerably in recent years. And although sixteen Latin American countries rank better than Mexico in household Internet access, and our economy’s readiness to fully leverage ICT across infrastructure, access cost, and the specialized skills needed for optimal use is not yet what it should be, the federal government — and in particular the Coordination for the Information and Knowledge Society, under the federal SCT — is leading an effort without parallel in Mexico’s history.
In addition, Mexico’s results show that the cost of access to existing ICT infrastructure is high, creating a serious problem for equipping the country with the skills needed for change and a more digital economy. Still, this particular point should not be laid solely at the government’s door: well-known monopolies in our country have, with their high prices, hindered the sector’s growth. Mexican business leaders, for their part, are still not fully integrating into the digital economy, which in turn slows the spread of technology in daily life.
The Secretary of Communications and Transportation, Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, has said on several occasions that it is neither fair nor permissible that Mexicans still do not enjoy the right to broadband Internet access. That right is one of the changes introduced by Mexico’s constitutional reform on telecommunications and economic competition, which strengthens fundamental rights (Article 6 of the Constitution) and expands for everyone freedom of expression, access to information, and access to information technologies (ICT). Among these rights is access to ICT, as well as broadcasting and telecommunications services, including broadband. This is one of the few points where there is no controversy among the actors involved. The secondary laws of the telecommunications reform are still under discussion, and there other voices have emerged; but the main reform is, in spirit, a success for the future life of all Mexicans.
Going further, and in order to expand infrastructure, the federal government has launched the México Conectado program. It seeks to bring connectivity to at least 250,000 public sites that can, in turn, function as hotspots for public Internet access.
México Conectado is a very ambitious project. Every site is conceived to advance digital inclusion. That is why hotspots are such a smart choice: the population is already largely mobile through smartphones. The program also focuses on strengthening connectivity toward a Knowledge Society in the country; that is why 70% are education sites, 15% health, 12% libraries or community centers, 2% government buildings, and 0.3% open sites (a category that will grow as the program advances). In short, the federal investment is enormous, but what stands out most is the political will to deliver this project — something that would not be possible without the telecommunications reform.
I mentioned political will, and so I must acknowledge the craft shown by Mónica Aspe Bernal, head of the CSIC, who has become a great ally of ICT in the country and, above all, has proven to be a visionary woman who understands that Mexico has the potential required to become a first-world country with more than one smart city. It is worth noting that this has already moved beyond the project table and begun to take shape in Guadalajara, the spearhead of that goal. At the same time, in states with an enormous digital divide such as Tabasco, México Conectado is enabling the installation of more than seven thousand sites for public access — something that will undoubtedly change completely how people in Tabasco relate to and benefit from technology.
The WEF itself also notes that countries cannot rely solely on ICT infrastructure development to be competitive. Rather, they depend on an integral strategy aimed at creating favorable conditions for the digital economy. In that area, Mexico, through the Digital Strategy Coordination Office attached to the Presidency, already shows significant progress. Curiously, this effort is also led by a woman committed to technological advance: Alejandra Lagunes. Thanks to her work, the WEF recognizes in the report that the full implementation of Mexico’s digital strategy, together with persistent attention to the weaknesses it raises — particularly in its innovation system — will help resolve the situation very soon.
In the end, what that much-discussed index lays out matters; however, the recommendations arrive alongside solutions that were already being applied. The fatalisms some might fall into are not the reality of a Mexico that is beginning to understand that technology is not the end, but the means by which we can become a first-world country and a knowledge society.