A segmented look at Mexico's mobile broadband use

Nearly half of Mexico's highest socioeconomic bracket uses mobile broadband to check e-mail, while 44.6% relies on it to stream videos.

The Competitive Intelligence Unit (CIU) took a look at the country's segmented use of mobile broadband as part of its report profiling users.

The think tank said the uppermost socioeconomic segment, known as A/B, takes advantage of having broadband plans above 3GB to use GPS (37.7%) and carry out work (35.4%) on their devices.

The upper middle bracket (C+) is the most intensive in terms of social media use, with 83% saying they use their mobile broadband for it. This segment also leads in online research, with 59%. Subscribers in this segment complement their mobile broadband with WiFi connections.

Users in the lower middle bracket (C/C-) do not have access to many applications and their use of WiFi connections is more intensive. Approximately 87% of these subscribers use mobile broadband to engage in instant messaging.

Finally, users in the lowest bracket (D+/D/E) have low connectivity levels and mobile plans of 1GB or less. Subscribers in this segment tend to make heavy use of applications that consume small amounts of data, such as messaging platforms and social media, according to CIU.

It is worth noting that most plans in Mexico include free access to social media and instant messaging platforms.

Data from CIU indicates that mobile broadband penetration reached 60% in 4Q16. There were 74.5mn mobile subscribers in the period, up 16% from a year prior.

CIU underscored that mobile broadband penetration decreases according to users' socioeconomic levels. Nonetheless, more than half of the population in the lowest socioeconomic bracket uses the service.