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E-GOVERNMENT IN ECUADOR: PLANS, PROBLEMS, AND SOLUTIONS by Maria Gabriella Mosquera Jij6n Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Electronic Commerce at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia July 2008 © Copyright by Maria Gabriella Mosquera Jijon, 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-44090-2 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-44090-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. •*• Canada DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY To comply with the Canadian Privacy Act the National Library of Canada has requested that the following pages be removed from this copy of the thesis: Preliminary Pages Examiners Signature Page (pii) Dalhousie Library Copyright Agreement (piii) Appendices Copyright Releases (if applicable) TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables vii List of Figures ix Abstract xi List of Abbreviations Used xii Chapter 1. Introduction 1 Chapter 2. Ecuador 7 2.1.Provinces and Regions of Ecuador 8 2.2.Population 10 2.2.1.Ethnic Composition 13 2.3 .Politics: Events that Changed Ecuador 16 2.3.1.The Liberal Revolution 17 2.3.2.The Death of President Jaime Roldos Aguilera 19 2.3.3.The Kidnapping of President Leon Febres-Cordero 20 2.3.4.The "Poncho" Revolution 21 2.3.5.February 5th, 1997 23 2.3.5.1."I Was The President of Ecuador!" 24 2.3.6January 21st, 2001 25 2.3.6.I.Ecuador-Peru Peace Treaty 25 2.3.6.2.The Bankruptcy of The State 26 2.3.6.3.The Sucre is Gone 27 2.3.7.The "Outlaws" Revolution 29 2.3.8.Regionalismo 33 2.4.Economy 37 2.4.1.Consumer Price Index 38 2.4.2.Gross Domestic Product 42 2.4.3.Standard of Living 45 2.4.3.1.Education 46 2.4.3.2.Literacy 48 IV 2.4.3.3.Unemployment and Under-employment 51 2.5.Technology in Ecuador 52 2.5.1.Fixed-Line Telephones 53 2.5.2.Mobile Telephony 55 2.5.3.Internet Access 58 Chapter 3. E-government 64 3.1.PhasesofE-government 66 3.2.E-government in Ecuador 67 3.3 .Regulations 68 3.4.The CNC's E-government Program 69 3.4.1.Public Information Access Transparency 70 3.4.1.1.Technical Specifications for Web Portals 71 3.4.2.The State's One-Stop Web Portal 71 3.4.3.The State's Connectivity Network 72 3.4.3.1.Phase 1: National Level of Connectivity (2006) 74 3.4.3.2.Ecuador's Current Online Presence 83 Chapter 4. E-government Problems 88 4.1.Design-Reality Gaps 93 4.2.IT Problems 96 4.2.1.Project Management 97 4.2.2.Chasing Technology 100 4.2.3.The Government's "Do as I Do" 102 4.2.4.System Overload! 104 4.3 .Business vs. Government 109 4.3.1.Government IT Staffing and Skills 110 4.3.2.Change Management 112 4.3.2.1.Bureaucracy 113 4.4.Social Problems 116 4.4.1.Lack of Reform 116 4.4.2.From Corruption to IT Corruption 118 4.4.3.Regionalismo in E-government 119 v Chapter 5. E-government Problem Solutions 122 5.1. Improved E-government Program for Ecuador 125 5.1.1. IT Assessment 126 5.1.2. Online Presence 127 5.1.3. Transactional Presence 128 5.1.4. Vertical and Horizontal Integration 132 5.1.5. E-government Accessibility 137 5.1.5.1 M-government and WiMax 138 5.2.Web and E-government Metrics 141 5.3. Risks and Security Issues Involved 147 5.4. E-government Marketing 153 Chapter 6. Conclusion 157 Bibliography 163 Appendix A: Technical Specifications for Web Portals 185 Appendix B: Interviews 196 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Projection of Ecuador's urban and rural populations 2006-2010 12 Table 2. Projection of Ecuador's population 2006-2010 by age group 13 Table 3. Indigenous nationalities by region 16 Table 4. Ecuadorian banks affected by the financial crisis of 2000 27 Table 5. National basic family basket for a household of 4 members (with 1.6 sources of income) 39 Table 6. National vital family basket for a household of 4 members (with 1.6 sources of income) 40 Table 7. Ecuador illiteracy rate (1950 - 2001) 49 Table 8. Telephone service carriers and coverage areas 53 Table 9. Public information access transparency project summary 70 Table 10. One-stop web portal project summary 72 Table 11. The state's connectivity network project summary. 73 Table 12. Amount of investment needed for the CNC's e-government program 74 Table 13. Summary of network speeds used by six public institutions: the SUPTEL, CONTRATANET, Superintendence of Companies, Civil Registry, and SENATEL 77 Table 14. Results of connectivity survey of institutions using broadband 78 Table 15. Survey of institutions using dedicated access 78 Table 16. Ecuador's telecommunications infrastructure index values 1 81 Table 17. Ecuador's telecommunications infrastructure index values II 81 Table 18. Ecuador's UN global e-government readiness report results 82 Table 19. Government entities without an online presence 84 Table 20. Government entities with empty web portals 84 Table 21. Government entities with an online presence 86 Table 22. Success vs. failure rates for e-government projects 90 Table 23. Categories of potential e-government failure costs 99 vii Table 24. Number of ICT professionals working in Ecuador's public sector Ill Table 25. Recommended web portal specifications 128 Table 26. E-government technical requirements 130 Table 27. User and system documentation 131 Table 28. Website evaluation criteria groups 143 Table 29. Performance indicators 144 Table 30. Risk assessment for e-government projects 147 Table 31. Key security concerns for network service providers 149 Table 32. WiMax threats and countermeasures 152 Table 33. President Correa's administration's expenditure on self-advertising (Jan.- May,2007) 154 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Map of Ecuador 7 Figure 2. Political map of Ecuador 8 Figure 3. Regional map of Ecuador 9 Figure 4. Map of Ecuador illustrating its three largest cities 11 Figure 5. Allocation of population by region (2007) 11 Figure 6. Allocation of population in provincial capitals (2007) 12 Figure 7. Ethnic groups of Ecuador 14 Figure 8. Population by ethnic group and region (%) 15 Figure 9. Annual CPI of Ecuador (1997 - 2007) 41 Figure 10. Annual current GDP of Ecuador (1997 - 2007) 42 Figure 11. Annual GDP growth of Ecuador (1997 - 2007) 43 Figure 12. GDP growth of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2007 45 Figure 13. Annual PPP index of Ecuador (1997 - 2007) 46 Figure 14. Population 5 years old and older by education level 47 Figure 15. Literacy rate of Ecuador's total population by area 49 Figure 16. Current literacy rate of Ecuador's population 50 Figure 17. Mobile vs. fixed-line telephone subscribers 55 Figure 18. Mobile telephone service providers market share.. 56 Figure 19. Mobile telephone coverage map 57 Figure 20. Pan-American cable 59 Figure 21. Computer use distribution 61 Figure 22. Telecommunications infrastructure indexes formula 81 Figure 23. Telecommunications infrastructure index formula 81 Figure 24. UN's 2005 e-government readiness report 82 Figure 25. Software wall of shame 91 IX Figure 26. Design-reality gaps 93 Figure 27. How bureaucracy affects e-government 114 Figure 28. Architectural components of a WiMax network 141 Figure 29. Phases of web measure index 145 Figure 30. End-to-end view of the WiMax authentication and key exchange methods x ABSTRACT Governments choose to use information and communication technologies to provide services due to the inclusiveness and empowerment that it represents for citizens. This thesis focuses on Ecuador's e-government program, which has the potential of increasing transparency, efficiency, affordability and accessibility of government services and democratic processes. However, the success of Ecuador's program is questionable, particularly when only 15% of information technology government projects in developing countries are successful.