Designing e-Government for the Poor - Tanzania Development ...

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Summary of Country Reports
B. Cambodia
In August 2000, the Government of Cambodia established the National
Information Communication Technology Development Authority
(NiDA). In 2001, the Government of Cambodia enacted the e-Government
Project. As a result, 27 ministries and governmental institutions are connected
by one online network, and 76 communes and seven districts of the
Phnom Penh Municipality are connected by the Internet. NiDA has offered
ICT training courses to government officials, Phnom Penh municipality, and
schools. An electronic approval system (EAS), resident registration system,
vehicle registration system, and real estate information system will be
introduced to execute the government administrative tasks. The population
of Cambodia is 13 million people, and there are approximately 800,000
telephones. The total number of fixed line telephones in Cambodia is quite
small with approximately 30,000 subscribers. Four mobile phone operators
serve a total of 710,000 subscribers. Finally, there are six operating Internet
service providers serving around 12,000 Internet subscribers.
The Government of Cambodia has promoted the establishment of the
ICT infrastructure by encouraging investments of the public and private
sectors. Most public servants are unable to carry out their duties properly
due to the lack of basic facilities such as phone or e-mail services. In order
to create a conducive environment for ICT development, the government of
Cambodia need to focus on development of infrastructure, human capacity,
enterprises, and contents and applications including use of local language
and computer literacy.
C. China
China has recently undergone significant transformations in ICT
development. In July 2004, the number of telephone subscribers exceeded
600 million, among which 299 million are fixed telephone, and 310 million
are mobile phone subscribers. Internet service has been in operation since
1993. In July 2004, the number of Internet users increased to 87 million.
The increase in Internet usage has been propelled with the presence of
more value added service (VAS) providers. In 1995, there was just one
VAS provider, but by the year 2000 there were more than 100 VAS
providers. Policies and regulations have been established to create an
environment conducive to the development of an ICT infrastructure. The
Computer Information Network Link Policy Act was passed in 1997,
China’s Telecom Regulations was enacted in 2000, and an E-signature Act
will take effect in April 2005. Approximately 303 cities out of 336 (90.2
per cent) have their own web site. Information service is still the main
function of the web sites, and two-way interactions (online transaction) are
still limited.