Internet in Mexico


Mexico has approximately 69 million Internet users representing 56.0% of the population. The country ranks 10 in number of Internet users in the world. Mexico is the country with the most Internet users among Spanish speaking countries and is currently experiencing a huge surge in demand for broadband Internet services. In August 2005, Cisco Systems, said they see Mexico and countries in Latin America as the focal point for growth in coming years. With Mexico being identified as a hypergrowth market for equipment suppliers and receiving the biggest chunk of Cisco's investments. Additionally looking at the historical growth for the period from 2001 to 2005 we see broadband Internet jump from 0.1 subscribers per hundred population to 2.2 subscribers per hundred population, a growth of 2100% in just five years.
Telmex is the largest provider of DSL connection. After being converted from a state monopoly to a private enterprise by President Carlos Salinas de Gortari in 1990, it took the Mexican Government 5 years to establish regulations in the Telecommunications Act and only then were competitors allowed to enter the Mexican telecommunication market, leaving Telmex' and its owner Carlos Slim enough time to extend their technological lead. Nevertheless, Mexico is lagging behind the world average in connection speeds.
Mexico is one of the few Latin American countries that has little or no Internet censorship. However, increasing threats and violence against media outlets, reporters, and bloggers related to drugs and drug trafficking leads to self-censorship by the press and by individuals.

Broadband ISPs

xDSL

ISPs that provide xDSL:
Market Share80%
Growth in broadband users190%

NameDownstreamUpstreamPrice Price
Paquete 2895 Mbit/s512 kbit/s289
Paquete 38920 Mbit/s5 Mbit/s389
Paquete 43530 Mbit/s10 Mbit/s435
Paquete 49940 Mbit/s10 Mbit/s499
Paquete 599150 Mbit/s50 Mbit/s599
Paquete 999200 Mbit/s100 Mbit/s999

PackageSpeedPrice Price
Yoo Basico 2.06 Mbit/s519
Yoo Mas10 Mbit/s669
Yoo Mas HD12 Mbit/s759
Yoo Total HD30 Mbit/s999
Yoo Premiere HD50 Mbit/s1399

Packages include TV, Telephone and Internet services.
SpeedPrice Price
3 Mbit/s199
4 Mbit/s299
10 Mbit/s399
20 Mbit/s699

DownstreamUpstreamPrice Price
1 Mbit/s500 kbit/s150
2 Mbit/s800 kbit/s200
3 Mbit/s1100 kbit/s251
4 Mbit/s1500 kbit/s301
5 Mbit/s1800 kbit/s352
6 Mbit/s2000 kbit/s402
7 Mbit/s2000 kbit/s452
8 Mbit/s2000 kbit/s503

FTTH

Recently there's been a big push towards fiber in the 3 big cities in Mexico and they offer up to 100 Mbit/s links, both synchronous and asynchronous. These services are being provided by:
It is notable that not all providers offer all connection options to all customers. TotalPlay, for example, limits upload speeds to 10% of the purchased download speed. While any discussion of upload speed is assiduously avoided on their website, this can be confirmed by calling their sales team directly. This is also mentioned on their Wikipedia page: :es:Totalplay Telecomunicaciones#Internet|TotalPlay Internet.

WiMax

ISPs that provide Wimax Technology:
NameDownstreamLocal CallsLong Distance Mex, USA & CanadaPrice Price
Acceso Universal 1512 kbit/sUnlimited-309
Acceso Universal 21 Mbit/sUnlimited-349
Acceso Universal 32 Mbit/sUnlimited-469

Wireless (non-cellular)

There are three network operator:
and several MVNOs such as Virgin Mobile, Cierto, weex, Aló, Flash Mobile, Oui Movil, Maz Tiempo and QUBocel.

Internet censorship

Mexican law provides for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights in practice. There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups can engage in the expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. The OpenNet Initiative found no evidence of Internet filtering in 2011. Mexico was classified as "partly free" in the Freedom on the Net 2011 report from Freedom House.
Transnational Criminal Organizations exercise an increasing influence over media outlets and reporters, at times directly threatening individuals who published critical views of crime groups. As citizens increasingly use social media Web sites such as Twitter and Facebook to obtain and share drug-related news, violence against the users of these sites is rising dramatically. The threats and violence lead to self-censorship in many cases.
Two states introduced new restrictions on the use of social media. In August 2011 Veracruz officials arrested Gilberto Martinez Vera and Maria de Jesus Bravo Pagola for allegedly spreading rumors of violence on Twitter. They were released following protests from civil society groups, but the state created a new “public disturbance” offense for use in similar cases in the future. Similarly, the state of Tabasco outlawed telephone calls or social network postings that could provoke panic. Civil society groups feared that the laws could be used to curb freedom of expression online.
On September 24, 2011 police in Nuevo Laredo found the headless body of a female journalist who wrote on TCO activity on Primera Hora de Nuevo Laredo newspaper and as an online blogger under the pseudonym of “La Nena de Laredo”. Two other Nuevo Laredo-based bloggers were allegedly tortured and killed by TCOs in September and November, again in retaliation for posting comments on the Internet about local drug cartels.
In May 2009, the Mexican Federal Electoral Institute, asked YouTube to remove a parody of Fidel Herrera, governor of the state of Veracruz. Negative advertising in political campaigns is prohibited by present law, although the video appears to be made by a regular citizen, which would make it legal. It was the first time a Mexican institution intervened directly with the Internet.
In 2014, the Mexican government proposed the new Telecommunication Law, which if approved would seriously cripple the right of users to have free uncensored internet in similar ways to the SOPA and ACTA laws. This initiative was received with public outrage.