Claudia Sheinbaum’s Digital Transformation Proposals

Claudia Sheinbaum's victory in the 2024 presidential election marks a historic event as she becomes the first woman president in Mexico’s history. Her win brings a series of proposals focused on Mexico's digital transformation, aimed at boosting innovation and technological progress.

These are Claudia Sheinbaum's key proposals:

• Public Internet Provision and Spectrum Program: a comprehensive plan involving government, academia, experts and civil society to ensure competition, coverage, quality and sustainable costs over the next 20 years.

• Continuation of the “Internet for All” Program: in collaboration with the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), this initiative focuses on providing equitable access to connectivity across the country.

• Launch of a Mexican Satellite: to enhance the country's communication capabilities by providing free Internet access nationwide.

• Leveraging the North America Trade Agreement: to boost private investment, both domestic and foreign, especially in the context of nearshoring, while establishing development poles to ensure fair wages and protection of workers' rights.

• Promotion of Clean Energy: through the installation of solar panels, particularly in homes in northern Mexico, aimed at reducing dependence on traditional and costly energy sources. This includes the completion of Latin America’s largest photovoltaic plant in Sonora.

• Digitalization and Simplification of Government Services: Improving efficiency and accessibility of services, from urban development procedures to the health system.

• Integrated Management of Information and Technology: through data centers and interoperable infrastructure networks.

• Creation of a National Digital Identity: allowing access to a variety of services through a mobile platform, extending the LlaveCDMX application’s previous service.

• Support for Electric Transportation Systems: to reduce pollution and promote safe and sustainable mobility in major cities, replicating initiatives from her tenure as head of government in Mexico City.

With a qualified majority in Congress, Sheinbaum will have significant legislative support to implement these initiatives.

Another relevant aspect of technology and telecommunications is the future of the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT). This follows Andrés Manuel López Obrador's proposal to dissolve the IFT and transfer its regulatory functions to the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SCT). Although Sheinbaum has not explicitly stated her position on this matter, she has expressed her commitment to continue the current government's projects.

“The Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) expresses its deep respect for the division of powers of the Union, and as an autonomous body of open and transparent public service, we are subject to public scrutiny and evaluation,” reads the IFT's statement in response to the reform proposal. “We express our openness to participate in open parliaments or any consultation mechanism that allows us to emphasize the progress and publicly known results that the IFT has achieved as an autonomous constitutional body.”