IT and Society: Citizens’ opportunities for accessing e-govt. services to be maximized

Rostelecom, Russia’s national telecommunications operator, charged with implementation of e-govt. in Russia, is going to maximize opportunities of citizens wishing to access e-govt. services. The company is planning to save electronic digital signatures (EDS), which serve for citizen’s identification, not only on USB flash drives or credit cards, but on SIM cards as well. This will enable users to access public services via mobile phones.

Rostelecom’s spokesman says that such a project is expected to kick off in the near future, while the company is presently conducting negotiations with such operators as “MTS”, “Vympelcom”, planning to reach “Megafon”.

Rostelecom informs that within pilot projects SIM cards carrying electronic digital signatures will appear this year, with their widespread use to start in 2012.  The company expects that SIM-cards featuring EDS will be provided to citizens after submitting an application to the operator.

Mobile phone is becoming a more and more popular tool for service payment worldwide, with this trend spreading through Russia as well. Operators have been actively involved in development of such technologies, and are conducting negotiations with agencies. “Vympelcom”, for instance, is developing a project jointly with the Federal Treasury which will allow making payments to the national budget via cell phone. “MTS” in its turn early this month released a “Social services” feature, which opens up an opportunity to pay for utilities via mobile phone with no commission and get information on debts for public utility services.