 Singapore to liberalise postal sector from April 1
SINGAPORE : Singapore will open up its postal sector to new players from April, ending SingPost's monopoly of the basic mail services market after some 15 years.
The government says the competition will create jobs, generate cost savings and improve service quality.
Soon, your letters and postcards could be collected and delivered by another operator.
SingPost's 15-year exclusive license to offer Basic Mail Services will end on March 31.
And the government will allow new players in both domestic and international mail services.
As of 2004, Basic Mail Services contributed one fifth or S$200 million, to the S$1 billion revenue in the postal sector.
The government says the move to liberalise is expected to generate cost savings of S$8 million to S$25 million a year over the next two to three years.
Dr Lee Boon Yang, Information, Communications and the Arts Minister, said, "We are well aware of the slow growth in the sector but nevertheless, we are optimistic that (with) further liberalisation, we can introduce more competition which will eventually benefit the consumers.
"And our best estimate is that there is a small but still not insignificant cost savings to consumers for mail services between $8 to $25 million a year. I don't agree that with competition, it could become wasteful in this sense, that it might lead to more cost burden for the consumers; the whole thrust of this further liberalisation is to help businesses to reduce cost."
The decision to fully liberalise Singapore's postal market follows a survey done in August last year, where eight industry respondents said the move would boost economic growth and e-commerce activities.
The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) said businesses account for nearly 95 percent of Singapore's total domestic mail.
In recent years, mail volume has grown by some 2 percent and the trend is expected to continue.
IDA suggested that liberalisation could bring about better services like mail tracking and staggered delivery of letters.
It is also introducing a two-tier licensing framework for postal services operators and public postal licensees.
IDA said SingPost, as a public postal licensee, would have to fulfil certain obligations.
These include maintaining post boxes and post offices for consumer's easy access, managing Singapore's postal code system and printing of national stamps.
To ensure security, SingPost will also continue to hold the letterbox masterdoor keys.
Dr Lee said, "We do not predetermine how many licences (will) be given out. It depends on how many people are interested, (and) come and apply. If they fulfil our requirements to be at the lower-tier of postal service operator, we will grant the licence to them. We have no preconceived idea. If they want to be a public postal licensee, then they must be well and truly aware of the obligation of a public postal licensee. And if they meet those criteria, we'll certainly consider their application."
Chan Yeng Kit, CEO, Infocomm Development Authority, said, "Access to SingPost delivery infrastructure is something we will regulate; there will be regulation on both pricing as well as quality of service, service agreement and criteria of that nature, so we will ensure that there is access beyond the minimum that we regulate. Of course, these new operators can always commercially negotiate with SingPost on other conditions."
So far, Dr Lee said there has been interest from several parties, but did not name them.
IDA will seek public feedback on the changes within the first quarter of the year. | 
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