Mexico to offer free WiFi access in 112,000 public buildings
Mexico kicked off the first phase of a program that aims to take free internet to up around 112,000 public places, as part of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) goal of reducing the digital divide in the country. Find out more about Mexico wifi.
State power utility CFE’s new telecom subsidiary, CFE Telecomunicaciones e Internet para todos, will be in charge of the program. The subsidiary was created as part of a plan to bring internet via a massive fiber optic network to the most remote areas of the country.
The government did not provide a schedule for when broadband will arrive in those places.
For this first stage of the connectivity program, the transport and communications ministry (SCT) worked with the ministries of welfare, education and health and identified 112,000 public buildings where free broadband connectivity would be necessary, the SCT reported.
Of this total, 19,041 were classified as priority for being in highly marginalized places with populations of about 5mn.
In these communities, citizens will be able to access government services and also carry out ATM transactions, the ministry said.
Likewise, 90,175 schools of initial, basic, upper and special levels were selected as public places to connect.
The health ministry listed 11,281 health centers, hospitals and clinics for the program, all of which will be able to access telemedicine and telehealth applications to optimize patient care.
More sites in Mexico will be added every year to the connectivity program. mexico wifi