African couriers, regulator agree on new fees
The postal regulator has reached a compromise with the courier industry over the “exorbitant” registration and licensing fees proposed for operators in draft postal service regulations.
The regulations have now been revised, and the postal regulator, Dupree Vilakazi, and his officials have been travelling around the country to get feedback from the industry on the latest draft.
It also emerged that government plans to open up the postal service market for private sector competition once the South African Post Office has fulfilled its universal service obligations.
When the postal services market was opened up for private sector competition, competing operators would be able to use the Post Office network, said Vilakazi. There was great interest to compete with the Post Office in the market.
The only other countries with free markets in postal services are Finland, Sweden and Argentina.
Vilakazi said at a media briefing that it was proposed to have a registration fee of R500 to cover administration costs for courier companies instead of the R5000 to R20000 originally proposed.
The proposal for licensing will be put aside for now until the Post Office fulfils its universal service obligations and was ready for competition.
Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri will be empowered to decide on the licensing issue and the licence fees.
The original draft made no distinction between licensed and registered businesses, which means the licensees will have to comply with universal service obligations and submit to a standard price for services as determined by the communications minister.
The Post Office’s courier company will have to be registered like all other courier companies and compete with them.
Regarding the dispute over the reservation of post under 1kg for the Post Office, Vilakazi said this was an operational issue that could be discussed in another forum after courier companies had been registered under the new regulations.
The new draft regulations will also include guidelines for the payment of compensation for lost parcels.
