Technology and development for the Mexico of 2023

There are only a few days left until 2022 ends. As is tradition, the new year will arrive pregnant with optimism and wishes that during its twelve months of existence all the wishes that its predecessor left us pending will be fulfilled. But what would be these truncated desires that failed to bear fruit in the past months?

The answer is not simple because there are different elements to be considered. If we make the mistake of considering the country’s technological progress based on the aggregate numbers of all its components, we might think that very important steps have been taken in connectivity.

Unfortunately, the reality of the population is not only measured in an aggregate way. There are regional and local elements that are occasionally considered by public policy decision makers. This is because there are issues that can erect a huge barrier to the adoption of new technologies in a few localities that, when measured against the national population, constitute a very small percentage that tends to be ignored in federal government agencies. .

Reality shows us a panorama of telecommunications in Mexico with asymmetric development in the different markets of the region, with different challenges being a priority for the government authorities of each state. It is clear that in Nuevo León or Baja California when looking at the telecommunications infrastructure and information and communication technologies (ICT) what seems to generate the most interest is the expansion of fiber optics and data storage capacity.

While in what seems to be an alternate reality in Guerrero, Chiapas, Zacatecas or Oaxaca, among the most important factors is the presence of civil infrastructure and the arrival of more modern technologies to which the population has access. While some urban areas are adapting their networks to the arrival of 5G, other towns continue to dream of the arrival of terrestrial mobile coverage without demanding much about its generation.

The foregoing does not imply that the sector has not taken some steps to straighten what it already recognizes over and over again as a problem. It is not necessary to carry out further studies to identify the needs of indigenous communities, of rural localities with low population density or those with low purchasing power inhabitants. This work has already been done and is updated periodically, either by government entities or by contributions from the private sector or civil society.

However, there remains the problem of government apathy in the face of the irrefutable proof of the bonanzas that a greater adoption of ICT brings with it, but accompanied by training efforts for the population. An education that allows them to identify the opportunities that technology offers them to improve their lives.

This is where we look in the rearview mirror at the months past 2022 and are faced with unfinished promises. Those pending tasks that inexplicably did not materialize for reasons that have more to do with personal conceit than with public policy focused on development. For example, the year ends with one less commissioner at the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) if compared to the figure existing on January 1, 2022.

The consequences of this neglect are numerous. A regulator that has before it the responsibility of ensuring the healthy development of a highly dynamic sector, which impacts all the other productive sectors of the economy and interferes in the work plans of all government agencies, has been relegated without explanation. surely costing millions of pesos to the Mexican treasury. On the other hand, the discourse of gender inclusion, of promoting equality and equity between men and women, has been completely superseded, since the processes to appoint women commissioners have been ignored. An eternal wait that leaves the IFT with fewer resources and on the brink of a constitutional crisis by not being able to have a quorum to make certain decisions. Perhaps in 2023 this absurd situation will be resolved.

Likewise, another advance that has been seen is the increase in awareness by some state governments in the creation of connectivity plans for their territory. Given the absence of a National Digital Agenda that coordinates efforts at the national level, some local governments have decided not to wait any longer and take charge of a digital growth agenda that allows them not to lose competitiveness in international markets in those areas where technology has a starring role. The negative is that many of the states that are making this type of decision are those with the highest per capita income. Once again, the most needy are the furthest behind.

Perhaps during 2023, the development of a DNA with quantifiable commitments will be one of the pleasant surprises that a new orbit around the sun will give us. This is accompanied by efforts to continue advancing in the allocation of radio spectrum, either for the offer of 5G services (IFT-12) or private networks (IFT-13). Regardless of the plans that finally materialize in this regard, what is important is that the allocation of spectrum in terms that are acceptable to both governments and service providers. Likewise, the reduction of bureaucratic processes in the approval of permits for the deployment of infrastructure, which lowers costs and accelerates the expansion of coverage both of infrastructure for mobile services and of other technologies such as fiber optics. A lot of fiber optics is needed, especially in the south-southeast states of the country: Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz and Yucatán.

Hopefully 2023 will be the year where the knots that prevent promoting the adoption of new technologies are untied. It is necessary that to the traditional approach of promoting the expansion of population coverage from government entities, efforts are added to promote the affordability of technology. Put more simply, that people can pay for the device and for the service offered by telecommunications operators.

Personally, I am literally tired of hearing speakers in numerous forums repeat that, according to spokespersons for the World Bank or the Inter-American Development Bank, for every month spent in quarantine under the COVID-19 pandemic is equivalent to one year of understanding between the public policy decision makers about the importance of technology as a fundamental tool for economic growth. Likewise, from the user’s perspective, a greater adoption of money transfer and shopping applications could be observed during this period.

The question is what is being done to capitalize on this new understanding of the digital world. How to expand the positive impact of telecommunications and ICT in the world that gradually strives to return to normality. Perhaps 2023 will bring respect to the institutions that will serve to build a Mexico with a robust public policy agenda in relation to technology. Is worth dreaming.