In Sweden, 88% of the population have mobiles and most public bodies either use the technology or plan to.

The national tax authority sends a pre-completed form to taxpayers, calculating how much they owe. All the citizens have to do is agree to the number- by post, phone, internet or SMS. And over 90,000 of Sweden’s 7m taxpayers chose the mobile phone to do it.

The “Gateway Sweden” scheme allows lorry drivers to get customs clearance for their goods by mobile phone. They receive a message on the move telling them their cargo has been cleared, with a reference number if they’re stopped for checking.

Swedes shopping overseas can text customs to check their duty free allowances. There’s no need to specify where they’re calling from, as the GSM network identifies the country.

By the end of this year, drivers in 40 Swedish towns and cities will be able to pay parking fees by mobile phone. Stockholm already collects more than 8% of parking “tickets” in this way. Subscribers to the service send a text on arriving and departing from their parking space, and the system charges a credit card accordingly. A windscreen sticker tells traffic wardens that the car is a member of the scheme; they call up details on the database to make sure the driver is playing fair.

Under the banner “mCity“, Stockholm aims to develop services that can benefit both the public and commercial sectors, and in particular public care of elderly, disabled, children and schools and public transport.

But some experiences proved that mobile technology is not always the best channel. The capital’s public transport authority tried to send text messages whenever services were delayed. However, the number of messages generated was such that they simply had to cancel the service.

More details in The Guardian.