This fulfills the ICT Ministry’s long-awaited government promise of promoting private sector operations in the field.
Dubbed Postaval, the new operator is planning to create a wide network of companies already offering postal services and remove the sector’s shortcomings, Financial Tribune quoted Mohammad Hassan Karbasian, the CEO of Postaval, as saying.
During his speech at the inaugural ceremony, Karbasian noted that the new operator will not merge or acquire any postal company, ICT Ministry's website reported.
"In an innovative move, we are to gather and get help from SMEs active in the sector, with their brands," he added.
Karbasian noted that Postaval will create an integrated framework to streamline postal services throughout the country and bridge the prevailing gaps by delivering efficient services to the public.
So far, he said, some 30 small- and medium-sized private post companies have agreed to join the network.
"I am sure that a constructive interaction between these active units will end in high-quality transfer services," he said.
Further explaining about the operator's working policy, Karbasian said all the postal procedures and information will be recorded in a software system that functions as the main database.
All the SMEs operating under the Postaval network will be required to record their activities in the database, including registration, collection, preparation, analysis and transfer, while respecting the customers' information security and privacy.
"On a higher level, Communications Regulatory Authority will have access to the database for more security and control over the procedures," he added.
Untapped Potentials and Competitiveness
Also speaking at the event, Hossein Fallah Joshaqani, the head of CRA, highlighted the huge untapped potential in the country's postal sector and said “less than 15% of postal services are currently offered by the state-owned Iran Post Company".
"Our data show annually close to six billion postal deliveries are made throughout the country, of which 700 to 800 million are handled by IPC. The rest of the services is carried out by lesser-known private companies that need to be organized in a more integrated postal system. This is what Postaval plans to do,” he said.
Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the ICT minister, hoped the newly launched postal operator will provide competitive services and challenge IPC, pushing up the whole sector to improve.
Addressing the event, Jahromi added that he is optimistic about the future of Postaval and said, "If the operator can gain public acceptance and approval, it will become financially successful."
Affirming Karbasian’s plans to eliminate the sector’s shortcomings, the ICT minister said, "No one can claim that the postal deliveries are being made perfectly without any fault. Definitely, there are weak points that should be tackled."
Privatization
Efforts to promote the private sector in the field of postal services entered a practical phase in March 2018, when two private companies, namely Tipax Company and Pishgaman Badpa Madani Consortium (aka Peyke Badpa), were licensed to offer postal services.
The move was aimed at creating a more competitive market, which can boost the quality of services offered to customers.
At that time, Joshaqani said the privatization of postal services is in line with decisions made at the 26th Universal Postal Congress held in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2016.
The Universal Postal Union holds meetings among its 192 members every four years to set the course for post-service providers.
Fallah said UPU has defined priorities based on the quality of innovative services.
However, the national post company could not fulfill the goals singlehandedly, which led to calls for establishing private post operators.