The Mexican Government revealed this Wednesday two contracts with the satellite company Starlinkfrom the tycoon Elon Muskwith a maximum joint value of 3,331 million pesos to meet the goals of its ‘Internet for all’ program.
After a public tender, the Government announced that Musk’s company obtained a contract for CFE Telecomunicaciones e Internet para Todos, a state company, to provide free internet with a minimum cost of 778.03 million pesos and a maximum of 1,556 million pesos.
Added to this is one for the Government to increase cell phone coverage to disconnected communities with a minimum amount of 887.59 million pesos and a maximum of 1,775 million pesos.
The contract consists of Starlink satellite serviceswhich offers a low orbit that, unlike traditional distant orbit satellites, has less signal delay and, therefore, faster data transfer, the Government explained.
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This service is cutting-edge, it is one of the most advanced services that exist in this area and it is made, contracted, to be able to respond much more quickly to connectivity with the entire country, as has been promised,” stated Carlos Emiliano Calderón, coordinator of the National Digital Strategy of the Presidency of the Republic.
The contract strengthens the presence in Mexico of Musk’s companieswho in February announced that Tesla will install an electric vehicle plant in the northern state of Nuevo León with an investment of more than 5,000 million dollars that is shaping up to be the company’s largest and the first in Latin America.
Calderón justified the agreement with Starlink by arguing that, since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s ‘Internet for all’ project began, The Government is looking for “all possible technologies to be able to connect the entire population very quickly.”
The president asserted that, now, 94% of the population already lives in a place with Internet access.
Next year we are going to have almost total Internet coverage throughout the country, this is very important,” he said.
Calderón showed that there are now 119.12 million people living in a place with cell phone coverage, 94.5% of the population, up from 115.58 million, 91.9%, a year ago.
It also projected that CFE Telecomunicaciones will have 12,629 mobile phone towers by 2024, from the current 8,616.
In addition, the state company has enabled 11,411 kilometers of fiber optics, with the goal of having 22,728.7 kilometers.
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EFE International news agency based in Madrid and present in more than 110 countries.