Ethiopian Postal Service Going Digital

The Ministry of innovation and Technology announced that the Ministry and the Ethiopian Postal Services Enterprise with the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, have agreed to modernize the Ethiopian Postal Service.

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Ethiopian Postal Service is one of the longest-standing establishments in the country. In recent years, the growth of digital services has affected the way business, financial transactions, and other significant social functions are executed. Hence the main service provided by the post is also affected.

Following the fast-growing adoption of digital technologies, the Universal Postal Union has reported that 73 percent of postal services indicate they have increased their investment in digital postal services. This indicates postal services need to add value and diversify the services they provide to stay relevant.

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The Universal Postal Union has been pushing African nations to join the trend and digitalize their postal services since 2019.

The new developments show Ethiopia is also joining other nations in adding value to and diversifying its postal services, through digitization. A research study was done to update the postal service. A roadmap to modernize Ethiopia’s postal service has been also developed based on the study, and discussions are underway to implement it.

State Minister for Ministry of Innovation and Technology, Ahmedin Mohammed (Ph.D., PMP) stated, “The provision of IT-supported services is one of the key steps in building a digital economy.” He also added, “Digitizing the postal service would pave the way for the launch of e-commerce services.”

Currently, the Ethiopian Postal Service Enterprise provides an express mail service, letter post delivery, and agent-based financial business services, item tracking and tracing, and philatelic sales to the public.

The new digitization roadmap is expected to modernize the existing services and even add new innovative service packages.

According to a study by the Universal Postal Union potential digital services the post can provide includes online postal shopping portal, online customs declaration, integration of postal web services with e-merchant sites, online bill payment, online postal products shop, online lookup, online customer service, electronic postal invoicing, enhanced item tracking and electronic notification.

Hanna Areyaslassie, CEO of the Ethiopian Postal Service, has called on the German government to strengthen its support for speedy implementation of the postal digital roadmap.

In addition to the implementation of the roadmap, Holzfus Kale, former Secretary-General of the German Ambassador to Ethiopia, reaffirmed that they will continue to work with Ethiopia on various issues.

Ethiopian Postal Service has also recently started a process to establish its own bank and a mobile money service.