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fter dominating Indonesia’s cell phone market for years, Finnish technology giant Nokia is now seeking to introduce another business that will pave the way for the digitalization of the public services system.

The former cellphone behemoth claims it is necessary to transform the quality of public services, especially considering the rising level of digital literacy that many Indonesians have shown.

Niko Steffanus Sutikno, Nokia Indonesia’s head of marketing and communications, said the company was preparing to introduce the “Internet of things” (IoT) — which allows everyday objects to be connected — into Indonesian public services that need development, such as fire stations, ambulance services and the police.

Fire stations, for instance, could benefit from a digitized fire detection system, while the police could gain an advantage from an improved emergency hotline.

The World Bank has even highlighted the importance of having a digitalized public services system in its 2016 Digital Dividends report.

It illustrated the case of Indonesia’s Disaster Management Agency that asked the heads of Jakarta’s 267 wards to map the location of critical infrastructure using OpenStreetMaps technology. More than one million buildings have been mapped so far.

Niko pointed out that Australia has already implemented real-time tracking technologies for its emergency hotlines and that South Korea has deployed road temperature and vehicle detector sensors at various roads.

For the technology to really work, Nokia says long term evolution (LTE) is crucial because it is the most secure and advanced network to host the technology.

“Indonesia’s infrastructure is ready for it in my opinion, but again, we are stifled and held back by regulations and a lack of proper planning,” Niko said on Wednesday.

The company is now planning to engage with local telecommunications operators to implement the system as the operators are the ones with the infrastructure for the development of the technology.

However, Nokia says the government needs to clarify and issue clear regulations surrounding the
use of IoT technologies within public services before the company can establish discussions with the operators.

The company has voiced optimism that such cutting edge public services technology can be operational in time for the 2019 Asian Games, though the technology will be active in some sectors only.

Leo Darmawan, Nokia Indonesia’s head of mobile broadband networks, said Indonesia’s digital infrastructure might not be as advanced as other countries, but added that most of the non-technical requirements had already been met, including business partnership know-how and the readiness of parties in the digital infrastructure sector.

“The technology itself is already available and has already been implemented in countries like the US and the UK. South Korea just finished its initial trial to further implement this technology on a wider scale and we hope we can start in Indonesia soon,” he said.