The State of Mobile Government in Turkey: Overview, Policy Issues, and Future Prospects

Abstract

This chapter presents the current state and future prospects of, and policy issues related to the mobile (m-) government in Turkey at both national and local government levels with a special emphasis to mobile phones. To this end, ?rst, the historical development and major actors of Turkey’s mobile technology market are examined. Following this framework, the current state of government information and services provided by the help of mobile technologies (m-government) is analyzed. Third, several issues related to m-government policy such as health problems that are thought to be caused by mobile phone use and the proximity of mobile phone masts to housing units; the risky behavior of talking via mobile phones while driving and the problems caused by this reckless behavior; problems related to stolen and unregistered mobile phones; and ?nally, the blurring of public and private spheres because of mobile phone use in public places are discussed. Proposed and enacted national legislation on these topics are summarized and discussed. The ?nal section evaluates the future prospects of m-government and integration of electronic government and mobile goverment efforts in Turkey. This section also assesses the possibility of using m-government as a tool for bridging the digital divide in Turkey.