Telecom firms have been urged to scale up online services in government agencies to support efforts aimed at improving service delivery and efficiency.

Solange Mukasonga, the Nyarugenge District mayor, said this while receiving MTN Rwanda chief executive officer Ebenezer Asante at the district headquarters yesterday.

She applauded the firm’s cloud computing package, saying it is handy when backing up important documents like construction permits and sharing them with different government departments.

The telecom is currently conducting a two-month data festival that seeks to enhance Internet penetration across the country, which currently is at 20 per cent.

Mukasonga noted that cloud computing would work well in the education sector, allowing schools to share information faster.

She called on the firm to work with the banks to ease payment of local taxes. "You need to partner with banks and other financial institutions so residents can use the mobile money service to pay taxes instead of having to go to banks,” Mukasonga said.

Norman Munyampundu, the MTN business general manager, said the telecom’s cloud computing services give more value-for-money compared to external computer hard disks, servers or anti-viruses.