MEXICO CITY, June 5 (Reuters) - Mexican President-elect

Claudia Sheinbaum is set to prioritize public internet access

after taking office, an adviser said on Wednesday.

Jose Merino, an adviser to Sheinbaum on digital strategy,

told a telecoms conference in Mexico City that the state must

reach areas of the country that private telecoms companies do

not cover, underscoring her intention to continue outgoing

President Andres Manual Lopez Obrador's unfinished project to

bring internet to all Mexicans.

Sheinbaum won last Sunday's election by securing over half

of the vote, according to preliminary results, and is set to

take office on Oct. 1.

Merino said a sustainable national telecoms policy could

be rolled out to address how frequency bands are auctioned and

Mexico's lagging connectivity in the medium to long term as part

of the new government's agenda.

"Denying access for any reason to a person's data and

connectivity is denying them the ability to exercise a multitude

of rights," Merino said.

Mexico's telecoms regulator, the IFT, was one of the

institutions that Lopez Obrador had

proposed eliminating

through constitutional reform.

Sheinbaum has said she plans to continue Lopez Obrador's

initiatives. Industry watchers, however, are waiting to see if

she will push forward with eliminating the IFT, and how she will

manage regulation of the sector, which includes major companies

like America Movil and Televisa.

"Making (the IFT) disappear is not seen as the best idea

because we come from a time when it did not exist and we already

know what a (government) secretariat is like, changing people

all the time and then there is no accumulated knowledge,"

Gabriel Szekely, chief executive of Mexico's National

Telecommunications Association (Anatel), told Reuters after

Merino spoke.