The telephone market is dominated by Slim Telefonos de Mexico A.K.A. Telemex which provides nearly 80 percent of the services, while billionaire Carlos Slim controls around 70 percent of the cellphone market with America Movil.

Dionisio Perez-Jacome, minister of Communications and Transport had this to say, according to one source:

“This is a critical study…that exposes the weakness of the telecommunications sector in Mexico.”

In the year 2008, Telemex had a profit margin of nearly 50 percent, while countries like Canada and the UK only had close to 30 percent. Mexican Government is, in the mean time, trying to increase broadband speeds in mexico, which apparently they feel will soften the blow of thee high prices. Evidently in their opinion broadband speed trumps ridiculous price.

In your opinion, does speed outweigh price or do steep prices steer you elsewhere? Should speed and price equal each other? With this economy who can afford expensive internet anyway? Leave your opinions in the comments section

Unfortunately, however, one area where tweeting about social change is not recommended is in Mexico when discussing the powerful and deadly drug cartels that base their operations there. In fact, such defiance may result in a brutal, inhuman response from the enforcers of these gangs.

Such is the case currently going on in Mexico, which came to light after two bodies were found hanging from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo. The victims were viciously murdered in what looks like another case of cartel retaliation. In this case, the difference is, the two victims defied the cartels by speaking out against them on Twitter.

For their efforts, they were disemboweled and put on display as a message for others who feel defiant towards the cartels and want to voice their opinions about it. The story of the two victims has since exploded on the Internet, and while the cartels are discussed, it’s the victims’ use of Twitter to speak out against these entities that’s getting the attention.

The fact that there were warnings found by the victims, with one mentioning posting “funny stuff,” is powering the narrative. One warning, courtesy of CNN, says:

“This is going to happen to all of those posting funny things on the Internet,” one sign said. “You better (expletive) pay attention. I’m about to get you.”

The warning signs left with the victims, who, according to CNN’s report, still haven’t been identified or claimed, mentions two blogs specifically, Al Rojo Vivo and Blog del Narco.

While the brutality of these murders cannot be overlooked–read CNN’s article for a descriptive account if you’d like–it should be noted that the defiance towards the cartels has not deceased:

On the Al Rojo Vivo forum, where citizens can make anonymous tips, one person wrote: “Don’t be afraid to denounce. It’s very difficult for them to find out who denounced. They only want to scare society.”

That being said, if you are going to denounce these cartels, make sure they don’t or can’t find out who you are after the criticism goes live. This is one place where Internet anonymity would be wise.

Kartik Ramakrishnan, who holds the very relevant title "Vice President, Yahoo Search Transition," wrote on the Yahoo Search Blog, "As planned, we are moving forward with the global transition of certain Yahoo! Search back-end functions to Microsoft’s search platform, and have just completed this process for organic search in Australia, Brazil and Mexico."

Then Ramakrishnan added, "This news is another step forward for the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance as we continue our efforts for a quality transition with our worldwide advertisers and partners."

So it sounds like everything is on schedule and going according to plan.  That’s good news for both companies, and for their users and investors.  (Remember, Yahoo in particular thinks this deal will save it money, meaning the sooner the transition process is completed, the better.)

One other important point: Ramakrishnan promised to provide additional updates as Bing and Yahoo continue to integrate their search operations around the world, so stay tuned.

"With more than 15 million Internet users in Mexico and growing fast, advertisers are increasingly turning to the digital medium to reach their desired audiences with increased sophistication and efficiency," said Ivn Marchant, comScore Country Manager for Mexico.

"The ability to target audiences across a variety of dimensions including demographics and behaviors is vital to the success of digital campaigns."

In March, the average Internet user in Mexico spent 28 hours online (up 7.5 percent), consumed 1,898 pages of content (up 18 percent) and went online 49 times during the month (up 18.6 percent).

Microsoft sites were the most popular online property in the country with 14.3 million visitors, up 29 percent from the previous year, followed closely by Google sites with 14.2 million visitors, growing 32 percent.

Yahoo sites took the third spot with 9 million visitors (up 23%), trailed by Facebook with 8.7 million visitors, more than triple the number of visitors from the previous year, for a growth increase of 224 percent.

Online properties native to Latin America including Mercado Libre (5 million visitors), Batanga (nearly 5 million visitors), and Taringa.net (4.7 million visitors) also ranked among the top ten.
 

Michael E. Miller reports that Mexico City officials were originally interested in prosecuting Twitter users who broadcast the location of police alcohol checkpoints.  Public outcry and the objections of free speech advocates caused them to back down a bit.

Nazario Norberto, who belongs to the Party of the Democratic Revolution (one of three major political parties in Mexico), has stuck by the general idea, though, and is worried about a few things besides drunk driving.  "We have to regulate these websites to make sure there aren’t people breaking the law, making death threats or committing crimes via electronic means," he told Miller.

So Norberto is drafting a bill that, along with introducing more penalties for individuals, could give judges the power to shut down whole sites.

The good news for Twitter is that Norberto and his bill aren’t enjoying universal support.  Some people believe law enforcement officers can gain an edge by monitoring social networks, while other folks just want to leave Twitter alone.

Related Articles:

> TurboTax Taps Twitter To Offer Tax Help

> Number Of New Twitterers Increases Significantly

> Twitter Excited About Ducking Censors

Naturally well-known domain registrar GoDaddy has jumped at the occasion to announce its own availability of the ccTLDs extensions. Actually, the company opened registration for the sub-extension .COM.MX back in May. Anyone who owned a sub-extension before March 1 can participate in .MX domain pre-resistration.

"We realize many of our customers will want a dot-MX domain," said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons.
We plan to help them get it the same way we do everything at Go Daddy – easily and affordably."

GoDaddy cites Internet World Stats, claiming that the number of Spanish-speaking Internet users has grown 619% in the last eight years. Now over 130 million Spanish speakers use the Internet. This makes Spanish one of the top three languages on the Internet.

One post on a classified Web site, that features free ads for selling appliances and renting apartments, advertises the services of an "ex-military hitman, professional and discrete." The hitman’s ad says,"job guaranteed in 10 days or less" and boasts "I have worked in Spain, only serious offers, $6,000."

The police say they are taking the online ads seriously as they continue to battle violent Mexican drug cartels and organized crime gangs. Around 1,700 people have been killed this year in gun battles with rival cartels and soldiers and federal police who are trying to end the lawlessness.  Gangs frequently hire paid killers using high-caliber weapons for their hits.

"The problem of hitmen is real and we are facing it all over the country — people offer their services to kill someone for a price," city police official Miguel Amelio Gomez was quoted as saying in the daily Reforma newspaper.

On one of the online ads, titled "Hitman Killer for Hire," says "Problems with a certain person? Want it taken care of? Write me. I am 100 percent professional and don’t charge in advance."
 

The company’s "dedicated Web destination" (www.aol.com.mx) looks pretty much like the standard AOL homepage.  Everything’s in Spanish, of course, and there appear to be at least two fewer ads.  Also, there’s a prominent radio-related section.  But even if no major tests or significant overhauls are taking place at the moment, they are in the works.

    AOL Mexico BETA Site

In a formal statement, AOL promised, "access to CNNExpansion.com articles and RSS feeds will be made available on the AOL Mexico portal. . . .  In partnership with HP, AOL will deliver a co-branded language portal for users of its desktop and notebook PC’s in Mexico, based on myAOL and toolbars."

And finally, "AOL will develop an AOL-Alestra portal based on the AOL Mexico portal that will contain a co-branded version of AOL affinity e-mail, the AOL-branded Toolbar and AIM products."  As Tameka Key notes, the company seems to be putting forth a real effort, then.

On a not-unrelated subject, AOL recently freshened a home improvement site.  Content partners include This Old House, Hearst Magazines Digital Media, CondeNast, and Real Simple.  Frankly, we’ll probably stick with that first partner instead of AOL’s hub, but AOL Home isn’t a bad idea.

Google Turns Nine(-ish)

The event’s being marked by the incorporation of a piñata into the company’s logo.  Otherwise, Google’s taking it easy – there aren’t yet any blog posts or press releases related to the birthday.

That’s okay, though, because the rest of the world appears to have generated plenty of coverage; a Google Blog Search for “Google’s birthday” returns 261,435 results, while a search for “Mexico’s independence” – which was achieved on this day in 1821 – yields just 17,543 hits.

Other events that Google seems to have outshone include the birthdays of Meat Loaf, Avril Lavigne, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

All these comparisons return us to the matter of when Google’s birthday really falls, though, and various accounts would put it on some very different days (and years).  Danny Sullivan did a great write-up of these histories, for anyone who’s interested.

I’m willing to stick with the corporate line, however, so long as the company doesn’t get too crazy about this.  Happy b-day, Google.

With 40 percent of Mexican Internet users having made an online purchase, 46 percent were travel related. The new Travelocity site has a range of product offerings, including flights, hotels, car rentals, vacation packages and special deals.

"The number of Internet users in Mexico is increasing quickly, and we have already seen a large number of people from Mexico making purchases on the Travelocity site in the United States," said Bryan Estep, vice president of Travelocity Mexico.

"It was a logical step to create a site specifically designed for consumers in Mexico, and is in keeping with our broader global expansion efforts."

The site is currently in Spanish and English, but it will be fully in Spanish in 2008. Customer service will be provided by Spanish-speaking agents using a local toll-free number.