11 Aug 2015

Postal service providers have to modify their business models and collaborate in regional blocks such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) until full integration with the rest of the world is attained.

Giving a keynote address at the 14th annual general meeting of the Southern African Postal Operators Association (SAPOA),  Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority’s deputy chief executive officer, Mr Mphoeng Tamasiga, said business and individual customer expectations were getting higher than in any other generation.

“We can no longer conduct ourselves and our institutions as if it is business as usual,” he said.

He said the postal sector across the globe bore the worst brunt of these changing times and had to come up with innovative ways to not only survive, but grow and thrive.

“Already consumers can send and receive money through the post using the International Financial System (IFS) money order agreement,” said Mr Tamasiga.

He indicated that to date, the oldest vocation of the post was to send and receive mails and parcels.

Mr Tamasiga said there were business opportunities to exploit and that might require collaboration with communities who would reap the socio-economic benefits.

“In the case of Botswana, government is committed to ensuring that the many talented and skilled young graduates who are in abundance should be supported and given opportunities to meaningfully contribute to the economic advancement of the country,” he indicated.

Mr Tamasiga said they were looking to smoothen the postal sector’s working environment and promote collaborations through the ICT Inter-Ministerial and Inter-Governmental framework of cooperation.

Representing the SADC secretariat, Ms Cecilia Mamelodi-Onyadile, said the regional body had for long recognised that the postal sector touched human life in various ways and contributed significantly and positively towards development of the SADC economy.

“We cannot overlook the role that the SADC postal sector plays in ensuring access to universal postal services, modernisation of the post office, introduction of the e-Post within SADC and universal access to ICT services,” she said.

Ms Mamelodi-Onyadile further said the changes in market performance, industry trends and rapid technological developments in the postal industry had led to the need for an effective harmonised SADC postal policy, a legal and regulatory framework for the delivery of postal services.

“The implementation of the SADC Postal Strategy is on track and will lead to studies on the postal financial inclusion guidelines for SADC and framework for postal goods and services in SADC,” she said. ENDS