Telcel, Latin America’s biggest communication company, will launch 5G network in Mexico.
Starting on February 28, 2022, Telcel - the most prominent company of telecommunications services in Mexico - will provide 5G network coverage to 18 cities within Mexico, representing more than 48 million people and 60% of the country's GDP.
Mexico is the first country to commercially launch a nationwide, mass-market 5G network in Latin America. According to the president of the Board of administration of the company, Mr. Carlos Slim Domit, Telcel 5G network will be a development enabler and promoter of education and medicine through the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, and Industry 4.0 applications, which could help telemedicine and distance education becomes more of a reality. “Telcel is expecting to provide the service in 120 cities of Mexico by the end of 2022” [1].
The activation of the network would significantly increase the importance of Mexico as a global cellphone consumer. Currently, Mexico is the eighth largest cellphone market, with 74.48M smartphone users.
This news is worthy of attention for Chinese technology companies since -according to the president of the Mexico-China Chamber of Commerce and Technology, Amapola Grijalva- by the end of 2021, 85% of importations were of Chinese origin into Mexico.[3] These numbers mean that Mexico has become an important market for exporting technology products of Chinese origin, such as mobile phones.
One of the companies that have taken a particular interest and will benefit from this news is Huawei. There is no secret that Telcel has a unique relationship with Huawei since it is the primary provider of 5G cellphones for Telcel.
In this context, “Mr. Liu Jiude, general director of Huawei Mexico, in the forum “Towards a 5G road in Mexico”, mentioned that the 5G and artificial intelligence technologies are converging to digitally transform traditional industries such as manufacturing, energy, and transportation[4].
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?Without a doubt, the activation of the 5G network in Mexico will have an impact within the country and strengthen its role as a consumer and importer of Chinese technology.?
?Written by Ana Paola Rodriguez & Oscar Hernandez