M-government

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Mobile government, ormGovernment refers to collection of services as the strategic use of government services and applications which are only possible using cellular/mobile telephones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and wireless internet infrastructure.

Contents

History

The world's first mGovernment work initiated by Professor Ibrahim Kushchu in Japan at the mGovLab – now grown into Mobile Government Consortium Int (mGCI) – offering services for the transformation to mGovernment. Proponents of mGovernment services argue it can help make public information and government services available "anytime, anywhere" and that the ubiquity of these devices mandates their employment in government functions. An example of such beneficial use of mobile technologies would be the sending of a mass alert to registered citizens via short message service, or SMS, in the event of an emergency.

mGovernment services is now evolving on four dimensions – transforming eGovernment services directly to the mobile platform, providing access to mobile technologies and application for the field workers of the public sector, enabling smart / flex working and providing citizen services anytime, anywhere.

The recent work done by the mGCI suggest that governments all around the world are now looking for strategic ways of implementing mGovernment services rather than implementing silos of solutions at various ministries or agencies.

Benefits of mGovernment

Mobile Government services can be defined "as a strategy and its implementation involving the utilization of all kinds of wireless and mobile technology, services, applications and devices for improving benefits to the parties involved in e-government including citizens, businesses and all government units" [1]

These benefits can be enriched and analysed under three categories: benefits to the government, citizens and the industry.

Cases of developing Countries

In developing where internet penetration is low due to lack of infrastructure and mobile connectivity and penetration is high, m-government is a better option although adoption is an issue. A good government to citizen interaction can be made through tools likes SMS. Following are some of the cases in developing countries: [2]

Turkey

In Turkey mobile phones have penetrated 23.3 Million (34%) of 69.6 Million populations compared to 4.3 Million (6%) internet users. Even though there is an increase in mobile connections the mobile internet penetration rate is very low. Therefore, the m-government applications are confined to G2G or G2C based on SMS and GPRS technologies. These applications are in their early stages but still are considered to be better than traditional way of service provision. Some of the major mobile application in Turkey are the following:

MOBESE (Mobile Electronic System Integration) – It is a G2G application and is used by law enforcement agency. It connects the law enforcement agency to respective local level Police Station to validate citizen identity or checking their record history etc.

TBS (Traffic Information System) – It Helps in checking offending drivers license and vehicle information.

Local Government Applications – In some municipalities, SMS technology is used by citizens to pay their taxes. They are also used for local level polling.

Czech Republic

In Czech Republic, mobile phones have penetrated in 95% of the 10 million populations, one of the highest in Europe and probably in the world. Since the penetration of mobile technology is very high, m-government applications are more effective and quick. Many m-government applications are launched and tested for informing citizens about crisis and natural disaster.

One way critical information delivery for citizens – This application is used for alerting citizens through SMS in case of natural or man-made disasters. It is also used for municipality voting or getting citizens consent on any issue.

Philippines

The mobile phone penetration in Philippines is 23.8% which accounts to 20 million mobile phone users out of 84 million populations. Here m-government applications include G2C and also more interactive C2G applications.

TXT CSC – This is an SMS service launched by Civil Service Commission in Philippines to increase the efficiency and speed of service delivery.

Reporting Criminal Offense – This service is launched in 2002 by Philippine National Police to enable citizens to report criminal offenses by criminals as well as Police to the relevant authorities.

Polling Coverage through SMS – Through SMS and MMS news and updates regarding polling will be provided to the people.

India [3]

India's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) has announced plans for all its department and agencies to develop and deploy mobile applications to provide all their services through mobile devices. Following are the main measures laid down by DeitY:

1. Web sites of all Government Departments and Agencies shall be made mobile-compliant, using the “One Web” approach.

2.Open standards shall be adopted for mobile applications for ensuring the interoperability of applications across various operating systems and devices as per the Government Policy on Open Standards for e-Governance.

3. Uniform/ single pre-designated numbers (long and short codes) shall be used for mobile-based services to ensure convenience.

4. All Government Departments and agencies shall develop and deploy mobile applications for providing all their public services through mobile devices to the extent feasible on the mobile platform. They shall also specify the service levels for such services.

To ensure adoption and implementation of the framework in time bound manner the government will develop Mobile Service Delivery Gateway (MSDG) that is the core infrastructure for enabling the availability of public services in through mobile devices.

Issues with mGovernment services

Suggestions for mGovernment Services Development

Related Research Articles

Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) was a wide-area mobile data service which used unused bandwidth normally used by Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) mobile phones between 800 and 900 MHz to transfer data. Speeds up to 19.2 kbit/s were possible, though real world speeds seldom reached higher than 9.6 kbit/s. The service was discontinued in conjunction with the retirement of the parent AMPS service; it has been functionally replaced by faster services such as 1xRTT, Evolution-Data Optimized, and UMTS/High Speed Packet Access (HSPA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telecommunications in Singapore</span> Description of telecommunications in Singapore

The telecommunication infrastructure of Singapore spans the entire city-state. Its development level is high, with close accessibility to the infrastructure from nearly all inhabited parts of the island and for all of the population, with exceptions. Today, the country is considered an international telecommunications hub, an achievement that was driven by Singapore's view that high-quality telecommunications is one of the critical factors that support its economic growth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SMS</span> Text messaging service component

Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text messages. An intermediary service can facilitate a text-to-voice conversion to be sent to landlines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wireless network</span> Network not fully connected by cables

A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes.

E-services are services which make use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The three main components of e-services are:

  1. service provider;
  2. service receiver; and
  3. the channels of service delivery.

Technological convergence is the tendency for technologies that were originally unrelated to become more closely integrated and even unified as they develop and advance. For example, watches, telephones, television, computers, and social media platforms began as separate and mostly unrelated technologies, but have converged in many ways into an interrelated telecommunication, media, and technology industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile telephony</span> Provision of telephone services to phones

Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Telephony is supposed to specifically point to a voice-only service or connection, though sometimes the line may blur.

Push email is an email system that provides an always-on capability, in which new email is actively transferred (pushed) as it arrives by the mail delivery agent (MDA) to the mail user agent (MUA), also called the email client. Email clients include smartphones and, less strictly, IMAP personal computer mail applications.

Mobile banking is a service provided by a bank or other financial institution that allows its customers to conduct financial transactions remotely using a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. Unlike the related internet banking it uses software, usually called an app, provided by the financial institution for the purpose. Mobile banking is usually available on a 24-hour basis. Some financial institutions have restrictions on which accounts may be accessed through mobile banking, as well as a limit on the amount that can be transacted. Mobile banking is dependent on the availability of an internet or data connection to the mobile device.

Proximity marketing is the localized wireless distribution of advertising content associated with a particular place. Transmissions can be received by individuals in that location who wish to receive them and have the necessary equipment to do so.

Truphone is a GSMA accredited global mobile network that operates its service internationally. The company is headquartered in London and has offices in ten other countries, being spread across four continents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile broadband</span> Marketing term

Mobile broadband is the marketing term for wireless Internet access via mobile networks. Access to the network can be made through a portable modem, wireless modem, or a tablet/smartphone or other mobile device. The first wireless Internet access became available in 1991 as part of the second generation (2G) of mobile phone technology. Higher speeds became available in 2001 and 2006 as part of the third (3G) and fourth (4G) generations. In 2011, 90% of the world's population lived in areas with 2G coverage, while 45% lived in areas with 2G and 3G coverage. Mobile broadband uses the spectrum of 225 MHz to 3700 MHz.

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network. A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that use the protocol. Introduced in 1999, WAP achieved some popularity in the early 2000s, but by the 2010s it had been largely superseded by more modern standards. Almost all modern handset internet browsers now fully support HTML, so they do not need to use WAP markup for web page compatibility, and therefore, most are no longer able to render and display pages written in WML, WAP's markup language.

Alternate air ticket purchasing order systems allow for alternative ways of purchasing air tickets and GDS Connectivity not involving Internet or personal TA contact.

mHealth Medicine and public health supported by mobile devices

mHealth is an abbreviation for mobile health, a term used for the practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices. The term is most commonly used in reference to using mobile communication devices, such as mobile phones, tablet computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs), and wearable devices such as smart watches, for health services, information, and data collection. The mHealth field has emerged as a sub-segment of eHealth, the use of information and communication technology (ICT), such as computers, mobile phones, communications satellite, patient monitors, etc., for health services and information. mHealth applications include the use of mobile devices in collecting community and clinical health data, delivery/sharing of healthcare information for practitioners, researchers and patients, real-time monitoring of patient vital signs, the direct provision of care as well as training and collaboration of health workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile phone</span> Portable device to make telephone calls using a radio link

A mobile phone is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area. The radio frequency link establishes a connection to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, which provides access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephone services use a cellular network architecture and, therefore, mobile telephones are called cellular telephones or cell phones in North America. In addition to telephony, digital mobile phones support a variety of other services, such as text messaging, multimedia messagIng, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications, satellite access, business applications, video games and digital photography. Mobile phones offering only those capabilities are known as feature phones; mobile phones which offer greatly advanced computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile technology</span> Technology used for cellular communication

Mobile technology is the technology used for cellular communication. Mobile technology has evolved rapidly over the past few years. Since the start of this millennium, a standard mobile device has gone from being no more than a simple two-way pager to being a mobile phone, GPS navigation device, an embedded web browser and instant messaging client, and a handheld gaming console. Many experts believe that the future of computer technology rests in mobile computing with wireless networking. Mobile computing by way of tablet computers is becoming more popular. Tablets are available on the 3G and 4G networks. Mobile technology has different meanings in different aspects, mainly mobile technology in information technology and mobile technology in basketball technology, mainly based on the wireless technology of wireless devices equipment information technology integration.

Policies promoting wireless broadband are policies, rules, and regulations supporting the "National Wireless Initiative", a plan to bring wireless broadband Internet access to 98% of Americans.

Mobiles for development (M4D), a more specific iteration of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), refers to the use of mobile technologies in global development strategies. Focusing on the fields of international and socioeconomic development and human rights, M4D relies on the theory that increased access to mobile devices acts as an integral cornerstone in the promotion of overall societal development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital divide in Thailand</span> Overview of the role of the digital divide in Thailand

The digital divide in Thailand refers to the economic, educational, and social inequalities between the Thai people who have access to information and communications technology (ICT) and those who do not. Thailand is a developing country within Southeast Asia, and is currently confronted with this problem. There are a number of factors that determine the digital divide within a country, including income, choice of technologies and socioeconomic factors. ICT development and mobile penetration are strongly correlated with economic growth and social benefits.

References

  1. I. Kushchu and M. H. Kuscu (2003). "From e-Government to m-Government: Facing the Inevitable". The 3rd European Conference on e-Government. pp. 253–260
  2. "Indian Government announces M-governance framework for its public services" (PDF). United Nations. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  3. "m-Government: Cases of Developing Countries". iamwire.com. Archived from the original on 31 May 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2013.

Further reading