Mexican internet user base grows 13%

The number of internet users in Mexico grew 13% last year, with 51.2mn people now connected.

While laptops and PCs are still the most common device that people use to connect, half of users now use their smartphones as their main means to get their internet fix.

These figures are according to the Mexican internet association (Amipci), which released its 2014 internet habit survey on Friday as part of the Telecommunication and Information Society Day activities.

Mexican internet users also spent an average of 5 hours, 36 minutes connected to the web each day in 2013 - 26 minutes more than in 2012.

"You can't deny that the internet is here to change the life of society and the economy of Mexico," Amipci president Carlos Ponce Beltrán said.

The study also surveyed ages, and found that 80% of children whose parents use the internet do likewise, and kids start using the internet at 10, on average.

In fact, 57% of internet users are between six and 24 years old.

Amipci found that 90% of overall users have at least one social networking account. Also, Friday is the most common day to use the internet (74%) while Sunday has the fewest users (47%), and about two-thirds of users rely on public or private Wi-Fi networks as their main connection source.

Yet despite 6.1mn new users in just one year, few people use the internet to buy goods and services.

"Of the total commerce that takes place in Mexico, only 1.5% is e-commerce," said economy undersecretary Rogelio Garza Garza.

"We have to ensure that the internet reaches more places, more people. Then we have to give people the security that transactions are done safely," Garza said.