A few years ago my friend Marcel Julien (who worked for the Government of Mexico at the time) asked me what would I do to boost the economy and make Mexico more innovative.

My answer: Invest in internet infrastructure. Skip the wiring, give people internet connection through satellite.

Now, I’m not the only one who believes that boosting internet speed will boost the economy. A few weeks ago, FastcoExist published an article that argues the same point:

Each time a country doubles its broadband speed, economic output increases by 0.3%. That may not sound like much, but for the club of rich countries known as the OECD that’s equivalent to $126 billion every year, or more than 14% of the average annual growth rate of those countries during the last decade.

The findings come from a new study conducted in 33 OECD countries that attempts to quantify the impact of broadband speed  and it’s further reading on cable broadband. One interpretation of the report is that broadband will become the interstate highways of the 21st century: infrastructure that radically improves the exchange of valuable goods (or services and ideas) leading to explosive economic growth over time.

In Mexico, how far away are we?…