Mexico cancels Peña Nieto's internet program

In Mexico , 47% of public schools, universities such as the UNAM, hospitals, and government office s were part of a program that provided internet access to 101,000 public places. The program is known as Mexico Connected, México Conectado , developed by the Communications and Transports Ministry during the Peña Nieto administration , has been canceled, therefore, all these public institutions no longer have internet access.

From 2013 to 2018, the budget allocated to this program was MXN $10,129 million; for 2019, the government allocated MXN $622.8 million to launch a free internet project proposed by President López Obrador .

The states that have been affected the most are the state of Mexico with 8,177 places without internet service; Nuevo León with 4,899 places without internet service, and Tabasco , with 4,230 places without internet service .

The Communications and Transports Ministry explained that public places no longer have internet access because “the contracts that provided the connectivity have expired.”

Furthermore, the program proposed by President López Obrador , Internet for Everyone , is mainly focused on providing internet access to highly marginalized areas.

Salma Jalife,

the Undersecretary for Communications and Technological Development under the Communications and Transports Ministry , said that the internet contracts expire between February 2019 and 2021 and that legally, they can not be extended, therefore, the government will launch new tenders for the new internet program proposed by President López Obrador.

“ México Conectado is still active and it is still providing monitoring and assistance services to users so we are paying for those services until they conclude (sic).”

A new vision

On July 19, President López Obrador announced the creation of a new state-owned telecommunications company that will provide internet access using the CFE's optical fiber .

The President said that the first connectivity stage will be ready next year.

“It's a nonprofit company if something is charged it will be minimum, only to guarantee the maintenance (of the system),” said the President .

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