Page 90

CGH13_ebook

B r i n g i n g c i t i z e n s c l o s e r t o g o v e r nme n t : I s t h e r e a r o l e f o r m- g o v e r n a n c e i n P a k i s t a n ? expansion of rural telecommunications has therefore been a high priority of the government and regulator (Naqi, 2003). The cornerstone of Pakistan’s telecommunications policy is to achieve sustainable development in the telecommunications sector through a market-based philosophy. Liberalisation of the mobile communications sector has spurred market growth. Major sector reforms first took effect in 2004 with the adoption of a new licensing framework, along with new guidelines on how mobile license auctions are conducted. This led to the creation of new pricing models to attract those remaining outside the market, particularly low-income earners who need more flexible and inexpensive services (Murthy, 2010). Market growth has also led operators to introduce new value-added mobile activities, including mobile banking, internet, libraries, utility bills payment, stock markets updates and GPRS services (ibid). In a largely rural country of 170 million, of which only some 16 million have individual bank accounts, the Government of Pakistan recognises the importance of the mobile money market. The government has been at the forefront of the debate on how best to regulate and guide the implementation of mobile banking through its branchless banking regulations. The government is very open to e-government and mgovernment initiatives; for instance, the World Bank is working with government officials in the Punjab province to seek citizen feedback through mobile phone technology to improve transparency and accountability – known as the Punjab Model of Proactive Governance project (World Bank, 2012). Moreover, the country has issued Smart National Identity Cards – secure, multi-purpose identity cards based on biometric identity – and has the world’s largest biometric citizen database (NADRA, 2009), which provides a key enabler for ascertaining identity and authentication of users of e- and m-government services. The mobile-cellular segment is the only telecom sector that showed an encouraging growth pattern during the economic recession years in Pakistan, and government revenues from the telecom sector in terms of taxes have been increasing continuously since 2004–05 after the liberalisation of the sector (ibid). The economic importance of the sector and the advantages of mobile phones for the development of the country’s agricultural sector – the primary driver of Pakistan’s economy – as well as for service delivery for rural areas, have been noted by the government, which has been keen to support developments in the mobile phone sector. Conclusion and recommendations Mobile applications cannot lead to any of the aforementioned advantages by themselves. Rather, they are catalysts that improve and expand development programming when used strategically and require a sound set of policies to help fully realise their potential. They are the gateway to communication between the poor and the government – allowing the poor to freely access public services, have a platform for their voices to be heard and have new opportunities of engaging in larger governance processes (UNDP, 2012). To reach both the developed and under-developed parts of Pakistan, however, policies need to be designed and implemented in a way that fully exploits and utilises the potential of mobile technologies. It is essential that these policies support widespread access to information and service distribution so that it becomes possible to provide mobile services to the majority of Pakistan, which is comprised of geographically unfavourable and difficult to reach rural areas that are also usually unlucrative. It is also important to pay heed to infrastructure limitations as well as to the country’s literacy challenges when developing these policies, in order to diminish the digital divide. The penetration, usability, affordability and mobility of mobile phones present significant opportunities to reach and tailor services to citizens all over Pakistan. However, further research is required to determine the relative opportunities and weaknesses of e-government and mgovernment in Pakistan in terms of improving government efficiency and service delivery, increasing transparency and strengthening accountability. Pakistan’s m-governance system needs to be enhanced with careful deliberation and long-term planning by members of the government and ICT experts, and building a citizencentric roadmap for m-governance in Pakistan should be the country’s first step. It is important for these planners and experts to understand the ways in which ICTs can help Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2013/14 89 Box 2: Key social indicators The average literacy rate is 54.9 per cent, this being the percentage of people over the age of 15 who can both read and write. It is therefore much more likely that a greater number of people are capable of successfully using mobile phones than computers. Those living in geographically inaccessible and underdeveloped areas, where internet penetration is either non-existent or extremely low, constitute about 64 per cent of Pakistan’s population. Women constitute about 22 per cent of Pakistan’s literate population. Alongside other gender barriers, this makes women even more unable to access and use computers. While surveys show that there is a huge gender disparity in the ownership of mobile phones in Pakistan – of all mobile owners only 27 per cent are female – mobile phone usage is roughly equal for both genders (48 per cent of women and 52 per cent of men) (PIPO, 2010 in Murthy, 2010). Source: CIA Factbook 2010


CGH13_ebook
To see the actual publication please follow the link above