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Abstract
The notion of mobile government (or m-Government) can be considered closely related
to electronic government (or e-Government) as it provides an additional channel for the
delivery of public services and information to citizens. It has been known to have
bridged the gaps and some of the limitations of e-Government by improving service
delivery in areas where e-Government delivery of services failed. This study
investigates how government organisations in Vanuatu currently use mobile
technologies to provide government services, and evaluates the extent to which these
organisations are technologically ready to invest in the deployment of m-Government.
A number of articles have been reviewed to find out how assessment of readiness
and what tools has been carried out in similar studies. An m-Readiness framework has
been created based on relevant articles. Approximately 20 government employees from
various government organisations have been interviewed and also asked to complete a
survey. Most of these government employees are senior managers and technical staff.
Even though the study has indicated that there is a certain level of mobile and wireless
technology adoption, the m-Readiness level across government organisations is still
low. There are few or no m-Government applications and services within the
government organisations. The study has identified that a number of issues that need to
be addressed in order to achieve a higher level of m-Government readiness. It is also
believed that it will depend on the success of e-Government deployment.