E-Government or Electronic Government refers to the use of information and communications technology (ICT) for managing the internal activities of Government and the delivery of government services, products and information to the public.   Accenture, which conducts an annual survey and evaluation of the progress made by National Governments in implementing e-government, has described its major impact, as follows:

“Electronic Government (eGovernment) enables high performance. It enables better outcomes for less cost-maximum value from every resource expended. It provides an avenue for enhanced or entirely new customer services – services that may not even have been imagined yet.  In the process it helps Government transform service delivery, so that they may meet their obligation to their stakeholders in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible.” [xxix]

E-Government services and applications to the public are varied and the increasing sophistication of the services that can be offered and their cost-effectivenes is to a great extent dependent on the level of information and communications technologies used.  Information can be obtained from Governments in a number of ways ranging from obtaining it from a visit to a local Government office to using online services. 

In a study done by the Government of Canada on a comparison of channel costs per transaction, it demonstrated that there are very significant cost savings from using online services.  In its survey, it estimated (all figures are in Canadian dollars) that the cost of an in-person transaction was $44, a mail transaction was $38, and a telephone transaction was $8.  In comparison, the cost of a transaction done online was less than $1.[xxx]

This level of cost saving is very much dependent on the requisite ICT services and processes being in place and the ability of the users to access it.  Although a number of online transactions can be transacted using dial-up Internet access, a broadband connection is becoming more important, as the applications requiring greater bandwidth increase.

Broadband greatly facilitates e-government applications at all levels of Government and this interaction can be as important to Local Governments, as it is to the State and National Governments.  In order to take full advantage of e-government and realise its potential efficiencies and cost benefits, there is an increasing need and role for Local Open Access Networks (LOANs) in communities where broadband is currently not available and also where they are required for the provision of improved services.

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