Mexico's Online Population

According to a report from eMarketer, 2.2 percent of the Mexican population, or 1.5 million people, have access to the Internet.

This figure is set to grow to 8.6 percent (6.4 million people) by 2004, thanks to improvements in the telecommunications infrastructure and new finance plans, which will make cheap PCs and Internet access available to home and small business users.

Young Mexicans make up the majority of the online population, according to NetValue. It has found that 67 percent of wired Mexicans are aged 34 and younger, while 37 percent are between 15 and 24.

The majority of Mexicans use a fixed phone line and modem to get online and the growth of the wireless Internet is likely to be slow. Currently 74 percent of Mexican mobile phones are connected to analog systems, which means they cannot support Internet access. It is predicted that there will be just 130,000 wireless Internet users in Mexico by the middle of 2001.