Posta woes intensify as letters fall to new lows

The number of letters posted locally in a year fell to 47.1 million to June — the lowest in a decade on the increased use of Internet-based mailing systems shinning the light on the waning demand for the services by Postal Corporation of Kenya.

Latest industry data by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows that this was a 24.4 per cent fall from 62.3 sent in 12 months to June last year as the once-dominant state corporation faces bleak days ahead.

The sharp fall coincides with the growing coverage of fibre connections to homes and offices and Internet use that offer users the faster and convenient Web-based mailing platforms and the private couriers.

In the period under review, the number of fixed Internet connections rose by 13 percent to 420,980 at the back of growing increased investments by the telcos to link more homes and offices to fibre-optics network.

“During the period under review, postal and courier subsector registered mixed trends as most consumers take preference in digital communication services,” the CA said in the report.

The record fall in letters posted come at the back of financial constrains at PCK which has, in turn, turned to other business portfolios to shore up its revenues.

At 47.1 million letters posted in 12 months, this is a decline of more than double from 109 million posted in the 2010-11 period-the days when Posta enjoyed dominance through its traditional mailing services.

While the number of post offices dropped from 623 in 2017 to 592 last year, the number of private couriers increased from 997 to 1,027 in the same period piling pressure on the Posta that is already fighting to stay afloat as telcos increase Internet coverage.

Safaricom — the second-largest service provider in the fixed Internet after Zuku-owned Wananchi Group increased its fibre connections to homes and offices to 6,700km from about 5,000km last year.

In the last 10 years, Internet service providers and the entry of giant telco Safaricom, have drastically cut the reliance on Posta for the physical delivery of letters.

The parastatal struggles are further underlined by the high number of idle boxes that stood at 70,000 as at September 2017.

The State corporation in a bid to stay afloat entered the clearing and forwarding business mainly handling car imports from September last year.

Some of its customers include National Oil Corporation of Kenya, the Central Bank of Kenya and individuals.