Developing Countries

In Asia there were 1.1 billion mobile subscribers in 2007. Therefore, Asian countries have a high potential with regard to m-technology. For instance, some of the highest rates of mobile phone usage in the world are amongst the industrialized countries in the Asian region, such as Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.

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In the Philippines Ghayasi and Kushchu (2004), have also discussed the following mobile services, which have been launched:

 TXT CSC: This service allows citizens to send complaints to government agencies, in particular the Civil Service Commission (CSC) in the Philippines in order to increase the efficiency and speed of service delivery (Lallana, 2004).

 Reporting Criminal Offences: citizens and police officers can send SMS to the relevant authorities about any criminal offences in order for authorities to take action.

In Dubai, in 2003 the Dubai Government introduced its SMS services. These are Push SMS services that are accessible for driving license renewals, traffic jam information, health card renewals and trade license renewals. In addition, there are Pull services available in Dubai. These include flight information, the payment of traffic fines and information pertaining to trade license status. Further, in September 2005, Dubai government launched the mobile portal which is a single point for accessing all public services. This has assisted the Dubai government and the citizens to reduce the complexity and delays of routine procedures. In addition, the advantage of the single point portal is that it allows individuals to access visa information, police services, such as traffic fine enquiries and payments, and obtain prayer timings as well as searching for hotels, checking arrivals and departures from Dubai airport and obtaining entertainment information and financial services data (Ewan, 2006). Another, important application introduced by the Dubai government is m-Dirham. This application or service allows people to deposit money in a third party financial institution in order to be able to use it for paying different municipal services (Ewan, 2006).

In Jordan, the Jordanian government started to plan seriously for e-government when the Program Management Office was established under the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. However, within one year, the Jordanian government was able to accomplish 13 e-government initiatives and 30 separate related projects. These included the development of an e-government operations centre linking several

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ministries to a secure government network and email. In addition, it built many online services such as company registration and income tax filing (Samer & Mohammed, 2008).

In Oman, His Majesty Sultan of Oman has a long-term vision of Oman to encourage the Omani government to move forward rapidly in terms of ICT provision. An Information Technology Authority (ITA) was created in 2006 by a Royal Decree to plan for and oversee national ICT projects (ITA, 2010). These projects include the implementation of e/m-Government services throughout the entire country of Oman. According to the (ITA) in 2010, Oman's e-government strategy was unveiled on May 7th 2003, followed by several modernizing projects aimed to enhance the ICT sector and improve digital awareness and capacity (ITA, 2010). Table 2.2 below summarizes all mobile Government services in Oman. They are as follows:

m-Government Services

Description Target Audience Operator Source

Apply Job Ministry of Civil Service

This is a Push and Pull SMS service for candidates who are searching for a job.

Job Seekers Oman mobile, Nawras Ministry of Civil Service, 2006 Mobile Parking Service

This is a Push and Pull SMS Service to send a request to Muscat

Municipality to reserve a car parking using Short message Service.

Citizens/residents Oman mobile, Nawras Muscat Municipality, 2007

SMS Exam Grades This is a Push and Pull SMS to request the final exam grades.

Students Oman mobile, Nawras Ministry of Higher Education, 2007 Jawab SMS Service This is a Push and Pull SMS services

to notify subscribers of completion of transactions, their cost and any other important information needed.

Citizens/residents Oman mobile, Nawras Ministry of Manpower, 2010 SMS Violation Enquiry

This is a Push and Pull SMS to enquire about traffic offences by sending SMS. Citizens/residents Oman mobile, Nawras Royal Oman Police, 2010 SMS Tender Announcement Notification Service

This is a Push and Pull SMS to receive SMS about announcements of new tenders, award of tenders and tender amendment notifications to unsuccessful applicants. Citizens/residents Oman mobile, Nawras Tender board Oman, 2004 SMS Telephone Regulatory Authority (TRA)

This is a Push and Pull SMS to inform customers about whether their transaction is ready to be collected or not complete. Citizens/residents Oman mobile, Nawras Telephone Regulatory Authority, 2009

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Many organizations both private and public have decided to open new mobile channels and provide mobile services to communicate with their clients anywhere at any time. These services are categorized into two groups - Push and Pull. The former is where clients receive notifications from organizations about specific events, and the latter is where clients have more privileges in receiving, responding, and / or initiating services with organizations.

According to the latest United Nations (UN) e-Government readiness report published in (2008), the Oman e-readiness rank has improved by 28 points to reach the 84th position in 2008 from 112th position in 2005 (UN, 2008). This indicator shows good progress and the commitment of the Omani government in driving improvements to the ICT sector although when compared to other GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE), it lags behind them all. In addition, in 2011 among 138 countries, Oman was in the 41st position in the Networked Readiness Index (NRI). The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) examines how well the countries are prepared to use ICT effectively (Global Information Technology Report, 2011). It can be noticed when compared to previous years Oman has witnessed a great development in ICT provision.