Smart ID cards and the Oxford Business Group
Gemplus was awarded the contract in October 2002 to deliver the first smart card-based identity solution ever to be deployed in the Middle East, providing an integrated turnkey solution comprising of hardware, software and smart cards as well as training and skill transfer services to ROP staff.
The cards, which are mandatory for all expatriates and all citizens over the age of 15, record all life data about the individual, such as birth, marriage, divorce and death and can also be used by citizens as an entry/exit document and a driving licence.
The Director General of Civil Status believes that virtually all legal expatriates now hold the card, which doubles as a labour card, but only by 37/38% of Omani citizens, a figure which was probably augmented by the requirement that only card holders can bid for shares on the Muscat Securities Market. The privatisation of Omantel earlier this year ensured that card applications rose. All Omani citizens are scheduled to have smart ID cards by the end of 2008.
In passing, OBG mentioned that uptake had been slow in conservative rural areas. Perhaps people there have the same reservations about invasion of privacy as do a large number of people in UK.
On the other hand, the system has been implemented at a much lower cost than has been projected for UK. Apparently the British have visited Oman to find out how they did it.
It's true that Omanis are, on the whole, attracted to innovative technology. They don't appear to have had any reservations about possible abuses of either privacy or security. But then, I don't think there was any public discussion, and the decision was made for them. It's easier to plan when you know how many people to plan for.
Ultimately, the vision is for the card to act as an electronic purse as well, which the owner can top up from his ATM and then head off to government offices to pay his bills, thus avoiding long waits and superfluous paperwork.
I was just wondering why OBG chose to describe this project now, since the cards have been available since the beginning of 2004. Admittedly, there haven't been as many briefings about Oman this year as there have been about Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The Oxford Business Group has been publishing briefings about Oman since 2004. Indeed, its 'Emerging Oman 2005' was lauded by Oman Economic Review in December 2004 as "the most comprehensive review of this exciting, dynamic and increasingly important economy ever produced."
The briefings are informative and targeted to factual presentations with only the merest hint of comment, as might befit a publication which has been hailed by both the Omani government and the media as an important boost to Oman's image.
It's not the same as the Country Briefings produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit which you will never see referred to in the local media.
Comments
Muscati wrote:
newsbriefs wrote:
Thanks for supporting me in my suspicions Muscati. Nice to see you here.
The scattershot quality of the Oxford Business Group briefings annoys me. This particular one sounded like nothing other than a paid advertising. It totally avoided all the potential problems with the problem. I once found factual errors in one of their briefings and emailed them to point them out to them. The editor replied to me saying that they relied on reporting from the Omani media for their information. That answer definitely made me lose whatever respect that I had for the OBG.