FEBRUARY 2025
A Competitive ICT
Sector Is Key to Mexico’s
Nearshoring Attractiveness
By Ryan C. Berg and Henry Ziemer
A
host of issues confront President Claudia Sheinbaum as she settles into Mexico’s highest
oce. From the future of security policy to nearshoring questions and tari threats—not to
mention the fallout from the judicial reforms by her predecessor Andrés Manuel López
Obrador (commonly known as AMLO)—the Sheinbaum administration will not want for demands on
its attention. One often overlooked but crucial area for the new president to address is the future of
Mexico’s information communications technoloy (ICT) sector. ICT policy is simultaneously one of
Mexico’s greatest strengths and a continued impediment to the country’s economic and development
goals. About 97 percent of Mexico’s 130 million inhabitants have access to at least 3G mobile internet
coverage, according to the International Telecommunications Union, and urban hubs have given rise to
a vibrant digital economy. Indeed, Mexico’s tech industry has birthed eight “unicorns,” or technoloy
startups valued at over $1 billion. Countless other small- and medium-sized enterprises have their
roots in the drastically lowered barriers to digital connectivity.
Yet Mexico is also a land of contrasts when it comes to ICT competitiveness. The country boasts some of
the highest spectrum fees in the Western Hemisphere, which disincentivizes broadband deployment.
The Mexican telecommunications market remains heavily concentrated in the hands of a single actor,
América Móvil, preventing new entrants to the market and impeding service provision to historically
underserved communities. Indeed, millions of Mexican citizens remain stranded on the wrong side
of the digital divide, with a more than 30 percentage point dierence in internet access between
rural and urban households. Finally, the growing presence of Huawei in Mexico’s ICT infrastructure,
including in the country’s rst forays into 5G deployment and solar enery projects, creates mounting
geopolitical risk at a time when alignment between the three United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement
(USMCA) member countries is of vital importance for furthering economic dynamism in the North
American bloc.
