Mexico’s telecommunications sector grew 15.1% during the third quarter of 2012 compared to the same period of 2011, according to data from the Telecommunications Sector Production Index (ITEL). In the previous quarter, Mexico’s telecoms showed an increase of 14.8% compared to the 2Q11. The report was released by the Mexican federal commission of telecommunications, Cofetel.
Follow RCR Wireless News—Americas on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to our free periodic newsletters
From January to September, the Mexican telecom sector grew 14% over the same period last year. The telecom sector grew more than the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), which increased 4.2% during the first nine months of 2012. In 2011, the telecom sector grew 11.3%, while GDP increased 3.9%. 
Mobile subscribers in Mexico totaled 98.9 million in September, which represents a penetration of 85.8 subscribers for every 100 inhabitants. As noted by ITEL, the wireless segment had a positive performance in terms of both the number of subscribers and minutes of use.
Growth in mobile business is expected to come more from diversified service offerings rather than from massive adoption by those who do not already have a mobile number. For example, ITEL said that América Móvil saw its data revenue grow 33.5% in the third quarter compared to the same period 2011, while Telefónica’s data revenue increased 19.4%.
The report also showed that larger telecom companies which operate in Mexico have worked to increase their postpaid subscriber base. 
As for mobile broadband, Mexican institutions reported a 56.4% growth rate in September in a year-over-year comparison. By the third quarter of 2012, there were 10.04 million mobile broadband connections, of which 3.1 million were modem connections and 6.9 million were mobile phone connections.
According to ITEL, the services that showed the greatest performance in the third quarter were satellite television (a 22.9% growth), followed by long distance calls (20.8%) and mobile phone traffic (20.3%). The report noted that fixed telecommunication users are being replaced by mobile subscribers, while data access rose over mobile voice in importance.
The report also pointed out that over the last few years, telecom growth in Mexico has been boosted by the telecommunications market reconfiguration followed by strategic alliances and partnerships between service communication providers. In addition, Cofetel mentioned that the advent of new technologies gave people new ways to communicate. 
The entire document can be read here—in Spanish.
>>>To better understand what is happening in the Mexican wireless market, download the free RCR Wireless News feature report in both English (download here) and Spanish (download here). The report presents a great overview with insights from several specialists about the telecommunications sector in Mexico.
