21 April 2005
The future of e-services for councils could lie in the adoption of mobile phone technology according to the leader of one of the UK's most successful councils for IT services.
Paul Bettison believes that phone SIM cards could replace the chips that are used on smart cards, reports Kablenet.
Speaking at the Local e-Government Expo on 20 April 2005 Mr Bettison explained: "The next generation of chip will not be put on a card; instead it will go on a SIM.
"Instead of handing out cards we will hand out mobile phones."
Mr Bettison believed location based services would be one of the main advantages to such a system offering services such as bus timetables and arrival times for example.
Bracknell council has been at the forefront of e-government and has already distributed 38,000 smartcards, mainly to children, which can be used to pay for services such as school meals or leisure facilities as well as acting as library cards and proof of age.© DeHavilland Information Services plc
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