Business News
Regulator urges PCK to adopt new technology
Posted Thursday, October 9 2008 at 15:38
Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) has been put on notice to either adopt technology or risk being run out of the market by more innovative competitors.
The challenge, coming from the industry’s regulator Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK), is how PCK can use technology to leverage its position as a market leader by introducing new offerings.
“PCK should take advantage of (the upcoming) fibre optic cable to upgrade it service delivery and introduce new products,” said CCK director of frequency spectrum management, Stanley Kibe. He was speaking on behalf of CCK director-general during an occasion to mark World Post Day celebrations on Thursday.
Among the convectional products that PCK offers are mail and financial services through it wide network.
However, both services face fierce competition with new entrants and non-traditional players arising from cellular mobile services such as M-Pesa, short messaging services and instant messaging technologies have greatly challenged both the courier and postal industries.
“The ICT platform is today the cradle of many new and innovative postal products and solutions and we are now focusing on the future of postal services from the perspective of rapid development of ICT,” said the Postmaster General, Fred Odhiambo during the same occasion.
However, CCK is confident that evolving technology will not cause the demise of postal services as last year’s figure indicate resilience in a fledgling industry.
“The postal and courier market has continued to record positive growth,” said Mr Kibe.
According to a recent CCK study on the postal and courier market, the industry registered a growth of 60.9 per cent in 2007 worth Sh6.6 billion, up from Sh4.1 billion in 2002.
CCK has also licenced over 130 postal and courier operators to date opening the sector to cut-throat competition.
Just like any industry in the region, infrastructure and security threats negatively affect service levels; the industry is being challenged to broaden its horizons if it is to remain relevant.
Although, courier members have broadened their services to include storage, warehousing and logistics services, both sectors should strive to adopt new technology to optimize the performance of their networks
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment