AT&T began the rollout of 5G technology in December of last year. Telcel joined in February of this year. Although both companies have advanced in the deployment of infrastructure for this new technology, which is already available in 25 cities, there is still part of the Mexican population that cannot access it because they still have equipment that only connects through 2G and 3G. .
The indigenous population is the one with the most access to this type of technology. As of the fourth quarter of last year, 75% of localities with an indigenous population have 3G coverage, which implies an increase of 12 percentage points compared to the 63% reported in the same period of 2020.
Data from the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI) of 2020, indicate that the volume of the indigenous population is 11,979,483 people, which represents 9.5% of the population in Mexico. But only 66% of the indigenous population has a cell phone, however, most of these devices work with 2G and 3G technology, mainly.
Another 20% of the population that identifies as indigenous does not have mobile service coverage, not even 2G, which is the most rudimentary.
Jesús Romo, director of the consulting firm Teleconomia, explains that the lack of affordability causes a disorderly migration to new technologies and that is why networks such as 2G and 3G are still on, despite the fact that there are no mobile devices on the market to send only messages and make calls. But both networks also continue to coexist because they are ideal for transmitting voice and data.
“2G networks still have traffic, but, in addition, operators consider having this technology to serve voice services for the population that has not been able to migrate technology, especially for communication between machines,” says the expert.
3G predominates in Mexico with 52% of the population. This technology allows you to send emails, messages and surf the internet. While 11% of Mexicans remain with 2G services, which allows calling and sending messages, according to the study The Mobile Economy in Latin America 2021 , prepared by the global organization GSMA.
Telcel keeps 2G on
Telcel is the telecommunications operator that keeps its 2G network on, having 47% coverage with this technology at the end of the first semester; however, in the same period a year before, Carlos Slim’s company had 90.2%. AT&T and Telefónica started the 2G network blackout in 2019.
While for 3G Telcel has 87.8% coverage, AT&T has 55.4% and Telefónica (at that time) with 52.7%, according to the National Mobile Coverage Report of the telecommunications regulatory body.
During the presentation of 5G in February of this year, América Móvil assured that for this year it plans to bring connectivity to more remote areas, which would translate into giving access to technologies to more than five million users. This plan is contemplated within the investment that the company will have this year. He also said that he does not contemplate turning off the 2 and 3 G networks because there is still a population that requires these technologies to connect.
Maintaining the simultaneous operation of technologies such as 2G, 3G and 4G, and now 5G, implies high maintenance costs, as well as high energy consumption, especially in the second and third technologies.
