Philpost warned by congressman
Philpost, the Philippine postal service, has been urged to modernise to stay competitive. “The advent of modern and instant communication technologies such as mobile telephone text-messaging and electronic mail threatens to make the post office irrelevant,” said Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Information and Communications Technology, according to ABS-CBN News.
He added: “Advanced communication technologies have already killed the telegraph business. If Philpost wants to keep on making money and stay fully functional, it should play a part in new emerging markets.”
Santiago, former chief of National Telecommunications Commission, said Philpost’s mail service, both for domestic and foreign parcels, is also under attack from highly efficient privately run express courier firms.
The congressman said Philpost is in a “superb position” to quickly seize market share in the lucrative remittance trade because of its existing “money order” service.
“The remittance market is large and still rapidly growing. Even a small bite would be huge. If Philpost can offer low-priced remittance services, it can easily build market share,” Santiago said.
“The same is true with Internet shops. The potential market is there because many Filipinos still do not own personal computers and/or have limited Internet access at home or in the office,” he added.
The Postal Service Act of 1992 established Philpost to build up the country’s postal system.
