Tag: Thailand Post

The head of Thailand’s newly privatized Post Office Company today expressed confidence that the company would begin making profits within the next 3-5 years. Speaking this afternoon at a signing ceremony with TT&T for a leasing agreement for online postal services, Mr. Dhiraphongs Suddhinond conceded that in the past the state-run company had faced annual losses of Bt1.3-1.5 million.
However, the company had been working hard to boost its range of services, and in the future the percentage of its revenue from mail services was likely to drop from 70-80 percent to 60 percent, as revenue from new services increased, he said.

Thailand’s postal service is expected to improve significantly to accomodate the nation’s growing publishing industry. The Thai Printing Association has stressed the need for more efficient postal services in conjuction with the government’s project to make Thailand a printing and publishing hub in Asia. “In the next two years, Thailand’s postal services should be on par with international standards,” said Kriengkrai Thiennukul, president of TPA. The TPA has already convinced a number of publishing houses in Europe and the United States to use Thailand as a production base and helped them get tax breaks from the Board of Investment. It is also in negotiations with McGraw Hill and Time Warner and some other big publishing companies to set up a production base for the region here.

Information and Communications Technology Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, has said that Thailand Post were able to reduce its net operating loss by about 49 percent in 2003 as a result of the ministry’s effort to revamp the company’s performance.

It is estimated that the state-owned firm loses up to one billion baht each year due to subsidised prices for mail services.

Krung Thai Bank and four other private companies are interested in doing business in Thailand Post’s post offices and are willing to help renovate and turn them into new business outlets.