The use of TV and radio is common among all urban Guatemalans, while the use of new media formats like mobile phones and the internet is significantly influenced by income and educational attainment.

Chart 1

• Household ICT access among education and income groupings are closely linked, with a far greater proportion of high-income individuals showing high levels of educational attainment. Therefore, ICT access trends related to education should also be viewed in the context of SES levels (see Chart 1).
• Access to television is nearly universal among all groups in urban Guatemala. Access to radio is quite pervasive even among low-income individuals and those with little or no education. The largest divides between education and income groups in ICT access are primarily of devices that are expensive and require regular payments.

Traditional Media: Radio, Television, and Newspaper

Chart 2

• Weekly television use, as with home access, is nearly universal regardless of income or educational attainment.
• The popularity of domestic television channels does not vary significantly between education and income groups. However, the popularity of international stations such as TV Azteca (Mexico), CNN in Spanish and Televisa (Mexico) increase significantly with income and educational attainment.
• The popularity of radio stations does vary considerably between education and income groups, with weekly listenership often increasing or decreasing with educational attainment. For further information regarding demographic differences see our Outlets section.
• Both income and education clearly affect weekly newspaper readership. Low-income urban Guatemalans possess less disposable income for purchasing newspapers on a regular basis. Nearly 27 percent of Guatemalans are illiterate, according to the United Nations Development Programme. This helps to explain the low level of use among those with either no education or a primary education. [1]
• Prensa Libre and Nuestro Diario are the two most popular newspapers among all income and education groups. However, the percentage of weekly readers of Prensa Libre increases with income and educational attainment. Conversely, the percentage of weekly readers of Nuestro Diario decreases with income and education attainment. Nuestro Diario is by far the most popular newspaper among those with a low-income and those less educated.

New Media: Internet and Mobile Communications

Chart 3

• Even though only 17 percent of low-income urban Guatemalans surveyed are internet users, they encompass just over a third of all users. Of these low-income internet users, 79 percent have at least a secondary education. This reinforces the importance of secondary education in the development of e-skills. In fact, the number of internet users who have either no formal education or a primary education failed to reach the statistical threshold required to analyze their internet activities.

Table 1

• Even though low-income internet users are less likely to conduct a variety of activities compared to more affluent users, at least half of low-income users do conduct activities through which they can receive substantial amounts of information, such as email, listening to audio, or watching videos.
• High-income and higher educated Guatemalans are more likely to conduct new media activities such as visiting social networking sites, watch videos on YouTube or even blog. Among high-income internet users, the most popular news and political blogs are Prensa Libre (www.prensalibre.com)and Noti 7 (www.noti7.com.gt). Both are the websites of local media outlets.

Table 2

• As Chart 4 shows, internet cafés are the most commonly used internet access point among all income groups. The same can be said for all education groups. High-income earners and those with a university education use a greater diversity of access points, including mobile internet, at work or at home.

Chart 4

Mobile Communications

Chart 5

• The use of mobile activities that require advanced data services such as watching video clips or accessing the internet remains minimal for a majority of users. High-SES mobile users are the most likely to conduct these activities as 21 percent and 17 percent do so at least monthly, respectively.
• Despite the limited use of advanced data activities, a healthy percentage of mobile phone users reported being able to access the internet on their phones. Some 24 percent of middle-SES users and 40 percent of high-SES users said they have access. The gap between access and use may be the result of slow connection speeds or the high cost of data transfers themselves.

[1] “Human Development Report: Guatemala.” United Nations Development Programme. New York, NY. Accessed December 2009. http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_GTM.html.