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Google's free, high-speed public Wi-Fi hotspots arrive in Mexico
- Google announced the rollout of its Station public Wi-Fi hotspots across Mexico.
- The hotspots are available in over 60 venues across 45 cities, with Google hoping to put Station in over 100 locations by the end of 2018.
- According to Google, Mexico has the third highest internet penetration in Latin America.
Already available in India and Indonesia, Google’s Station high-speed public Wi-Fi platform is now available in over 60 venues across Mexico City and 44 other cities in Mexico. These venues include malls, airports, and public transit stations.
Google hopes to have Station available in over 100 locations by the end of 2018. To achieve this, the search giant partnered up with local internet provider Sitwifi to convert the latter’s existing hotspots to the Station format.
The idea behind Station is to offer high-bandwidth services to areas where such services are not a given. Even though Google said Mexico has the third highest internet penetration in Latin America, financial disparity makes internet access an inconsistent experience.
According to the 2014 National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure, the average Mexican household earns $843 each month and $2,259 each quarter. The daily minimum wage in Mexico has since increased to 80.04 pesos ($4.30), but the numbers still do not paint a pretty picture.
Also consider that mobile data plans with at least 5 GB of internet go for at least $27 each month, and that the average Mexican household has almost four members. All of a sudden, having free and unlimited Wi-Fi becomes a crutch and a necessity rather than something to be taken for granted.
Then again, having so many public Wi-Fi hotspots could also spur folks to download more content from the Play Store and access more Google sites. Google still has a stake in all of this when this is said and done, but at least there is also a public benefit.