Oct 282015
 

The 2015 survey of connectivity by Mexican consultancy Gabinete de Comunicación Estratégica (GCE) provides further support, if any were needed, of the north-south digital divide that we have commented on several times previously.

GCE carried out a telephone survey of 49,600 people, across the entire country, including respondents in the 76 largest cities. Respondents ranged in age from 18 to 50; 48% had a university degree and about the same percentage was categorized as “lower middle class”.

The survey question was “¿Cuenta usted con conexión a Internet?” (Do you have a connection to the Internet?)

At city level, Cancún was the most connected city. The two cities sharing the lowest levels of connectivity were Tlaxcala and Acapulco.

Cyber-connectivity in Mexico, 2015. Data: GCE 2015. Cartography: Geo-Mexico

Cyber-connectivity in Mexico, 2015. Data: GCE 2015. Cartography: Geo-Mexico

At state level (map), Baja California Sur led the way in terms of Internet users (84% of respondents claiming access to the Internet), followed by Nuevo León (81.5%) and Baja California (80.4%). (Note that the likely margin of error in results is plus or minus 4%.)

Guerrero is at the other end of the scale, with just 49% of residents online. After last-place Guerrero came Zacatecas, where 53% were connected, and Oaxaca with 55%.

Most Internet users in those three states used a desktop computer to connect. On average, most Internet users spent an hour or two a day online and social networks were the most popular destination for 20% of respondents. Facebook led the way among those networks with 74%, followed by WhatsApp with 12% and Twitter with 7%.

Another question in the survey asked which was the most trustworthy source for information: the Internet, television or newspapers. The Internet won with 28%, television came second with 25% and newspapers trailed with 24%. Frederico Berrueto Pruneta, general manager of GCE, asserts that, “What we are seeing is a very clear tendency where the Internet has won the battle over television, which had already won against newspapers”.

  • Full Report (Spanish, pdf): Connectivity in Mexico in 2015

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  2 Responses to “How cyber-connected is Mexico?”

  1. What percentage of the country have a telephone “line”?

    What we are seeing is a very clear tendency where the Internet has won the battle over television, which had already won against newspapers”.

    That’s not really comparing like for like. If they had substituted “internet” with “computer” we’d be closer to a comparison.
    But I’m afraid that they seem way behind the times because here in the middle class university graduate populated sections of Monterrey no one between the age of 16 to 40 bothers to switch on a PC desktop or laptop … smart phones lead the way. The new Gov. here El Bronco just spoke at the state uni in Monterrey UANL and suggested that the rector dissmiss his personal staff and communicate through facebook with the entire student body of 183,000.(reported today in El Norte). The Gov. also said that “A Televisa y Multimedios les da mucho celo porque yo uso Periscope, pero ?saben cuanto nos vamos a ahorrar por eso? Casi mil 500 millones de pesos al ano” Forgive me I don’t have accents on my iPhon! I would also like to mention that many manual workers who have jobs that keep them mobile also have a cel phone that can access face and twitter !

  2. I agree that cell pone usage is a key indicator of connectivity, and used “telephone” rather than “telephone line”, partly for that reason. You are absolutely correct that social media such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter are also key indicators. According to the survey, nationwide, around 70% of the population in each state with Internet access use Facebook, 10-15% use WhatsApp and 4-10% use Twitter. You are also right (of course!) that connection to the Internet via cell phone is very common in Nuevo León, which, according to the survey, is actually the state with the third highest percentage (39.8%) of people connecting to the Internet that way, after Veracruz (44.7%) and San Luis Potosí (42.7%). Naturally, rates of cell phone and social media usage also vary with age group and other factors.

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