Mexico is both an emerging market economy and an emerging democracy. Over the last fifteen years, Mexico has engaged in a pervasive effort to reverse a decades long tradition of heavy state control of the economy. It has privatized and liberalized most sectors including the critical telecommunications industry. Whether seen from the vantage point of the government, the business community, educational institutions, or civil society, Mexico is unquestionably dedicated to advancing its information and communication technology (ICT) landscape. It recognizes what is necessary to compete in the global information economy and has taken significant steps to nurture this environment. But the results have not always matched the intentions. This website analyzes the relative successes and failures of this effort in Mexico across a variety of IT sectors.
Along with the market reforms, Mexico's political system is transforming. For most of the twentieth century, the Mexican government signified corruption, lack of transparency, and an ability to stifle political opposition. For seventy-one years the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) held the Presidency, Congress, and most governorships. The PRI maintained power in large part because, as corrupt as it may have been, it provided stability and economic growth through most of its tenure. The market reforms that have liberalized the Mexican economy were launched under two successive PRI administrations. But for Mexico to take the next step, to extend the benefits of ICTs to all citizens, Mexico must become a viable democracy. The most significant indication of this occurred in June, 2000 when the PRI was finally defeated in a remarkably clean and transparent election that many have hailed as the true inception of Mexican democracy.
Under the PRI administrations of Salinas (1988-1994) and Zedillo (1994-2000) Mexico solidified its membership in the WTO, signed the NAFTA treaty with Canada and the United States, and committed to opening markets across all sectors. The implications for the information technology landscape in Mexico have been profound. All economic indicators over the last decade point to growth in IT industries, infrastructures, and services. By unseating the leaders who began this transformation, it has now fallen to the administration of Vicente Fox to expand and more effectively enforce previous measures, and to create an overall vision of ICT in Mexico that will extend its benefits to all citizens to facilitate both economic and political development.
Source: Lonely Planet
Mexico enjoys undeniable strengths in both its current and potential IT landscape. Any analysis must begin with Mexico’s advantageous proximity and trade relationship with the largest IT economy in the world, the United States. The signing of NAFTA in 1994 with Canada and the U.S. facilitated an ongoing trend to integrate the economies of North America for the mutual advantage of all three members. For Mexico this provided a lowering on tariffs and trade barriers for domestic exports and reduced the prices consumers had to pay for American imports. It also created a more fluid market for foreign direct investment by American firms in the Mexican economy. The implications for ICT development have been noteworthy. Computers, software, and telecommunications equipment is cheaper; export markets for hardware and software production, called "near shore" sourcing, have expanded both through multinational operations and domestic ventures; and greater integration with its northern neighbors has applied subtle pressures on domestic businesses to join the digital economy.
Mexico has also gained strength through its aggressive adaptation to a more globalized economy. Until the 1980s, the Mexican economy was heavily state-controlled and owned. Since then it has completely reversed course and privatized industries, most notably the telecommunications sector. This new policy paradigm has helped Mexico expand its telecommunications infrastructure and services for both citizens and business, lower costs, and establish an environment conducive to political and economic development such as Mexico has never seen.
At the same time, Mexico faces myriad obstacles and weaknesses in the midst of this generally optimistic appraisal. Despite extensive legislation designed to bring Mexico in line with the developed world on such issues as market access, intellectual property protection, and privacy measures, enforcement is subject to the vagaries of the Mexican regulatory structure, which remains bureaucratic and oftentimes corrupt. Until the Mexican government has become fully transparent and enforces laws crucial to business development, the IT landscape could suffer from unrealized potential.
