Mexico Communications - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Telephones - fixed lines

total subscriptions: 24,366,595 (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 19 (2021 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 123,920,752 (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 98 (2021 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment: with a large population and relatively low broadband and mobile penetration, (86 lines for mobile broadband for every 100 habitants in June 2021) Mexico’s telecom sector has potential for growth; adequate telephone service for business and government; improving quality and increasing mobile cellular availability, with mobile subscribers far outnumbering fixed-line subscribers (24.6 million fixed line subscribers and 125 million mobile line subscribers in June 2021); relatively low broadband and mobile penetration, potential for growth and international investment; extensive microwave radio relay network; considerable use of fiber-optic cable and coaxial cable; 5G development slow in part due to high costs (2021)

domestic: fixed-line teledensity 19 lines per every 100; mobile-cellular teledensity is 98 per 100 persons (2021)

international: country code - 52; Columbus-2 fiber-optic submarine cable with access to the US, Virgin Islands, Canary Islands, Spain, and Italy; the ARCOS-1 and the MAYA-1 submarine cable system together provide access to Central America, parts of South America and the Caribbean, and the U.S.; Pan-American Crossing (PAC) submarine cable system provides access to Panama, California, U.S., and Costa Rica; Lazaro Cardenas-Manzanillo Santiago submarines cable system (LCMSSCS) provides access to Michoacan, Guerrero, and Colima, Mexico; AMX-1 submarine cable system with access to Colombia, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Gulf of California Cable submarine cable systems that connects La Paz, Baja California Sur and Topolobambo, Sinaloa; and Aurora submarine cable system provides access to Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, and the U.S. satellite earth stations - 124 (36 Intelsat, 1 Solidaridad (giving Mexico improved access to South America, Central America, and much of the US as well as enhancing domestic communications), 9 Panamsat, numerous Inmarsat mobile earth stations); linked to Central American Microwave System of trunk connections (2022)

Broadcast media

telecom reform in 2013 enabled the creation of new broadcast television channels after decades of a quasi-monopoly; Mexico has 885 TV stations and 1,841 radio stations and most are privately owned; the Televisa group once had a virtual monopoly in TV broadcasting, but new broadcasting groups and foreign satellite and cable operators are now available; in 2016, Mexico became the first country in Latin America to complete the transition from analog to digital transmissions, allowing for better image and audio quality and a wider selection of programming from networks (2022)

Internet country code

.mx

Internet users

total: 98.8 million (2021 est.)

percent of population: 76% (2021 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 21,936,131 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 17 (2020 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Mexico on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Mexico 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Mexico 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.