Mpost —a service that turns mobile phones into formal postal addresses— has increased its annual subscription fees by up to 23 times effective July 5, in response to high operating costs.
Under the new charges approved by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), companies subscribing to the service, which was launched in 2016 in partnership with the Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK), will now pay an annual fee of Sh9,450, up from Sh400, while individual subscribers will pay Sh2,000, up from Sh400.
This means that the corporate subscription fee for Mpost has risen by 2,262.5 percent, while that of individual customers has increased by 400 percent —a development that the State corporation attributed to the high cost of doing business in Kenya.
“We acknowledge receipt of your letter dated June 18, 2024, notifying the Authority of your intention to revise the rates for Mpost virtual boxes/ addresses for both corporate and individual categories.
“We have reviewed the revised rates and have no objection to their implementation” CA director-general David Mugonyi said in a letter to PCK.
“Kindly ensure that the changes are well communicated to your customers,” he added in the letter to PCK dated July 5, 2024.
Taz Technologies is the company that developed the Mpost innovation and then handed it over to PCK.
The service is currently available in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi with plans to launch it in the Central African Republic and Congo Brazzaville, said Twahir Mohamed, Taz Technologies founder and CEO.
The app allows customers to acquire a virtual postal address, renew their subscription, and request for delivery of items from the post office.
After downloading the app from the Google Play Store, users register their name, email address, password, and referral code.
The next step is to enter the details of the collection location, followed by the delivery location, and finally a payment prompt appears.
The innovation turns a customer's mobile phone into a formal postal address, allowing them to receive parcels and mail wherever they are.
Subscribers to the Mpost service receive free alerts about the availability of their letters, which they can collect from the post office or have delivered to their doorstep.
Since its launch, the Mpost platform has registered 600,000 users, but only 70,000 are active. The service has also delivered five million letters and parcels across the country.
The PCK's main reason for partnering with Taz Technologies was to help boost revenue for the State agency, which has been hit by the impact of internet-based mailing and the entry of private couriers into its space.
PCK has identified the logistics sector as a key focus area for revenue growth, driven by changes in consumer behaviour and new shopping trends.