Mid Term Assessment of the Doha Postal Strategy Implementation Assessment and Perspectives African Strategy Conference, Bern, 10 th April, 2015 Claude Defoundoux, Consultant

Plan of the Presentation  General background of African countries  African priorities for  Main results observed: Mail quality of service Modernization and diversification of products Growth of the postal traffic Postal Regulation PAPU ability to meet changing market needs  Priorities outlines for

General Background of African Countries  The 44 members states of PAPU are developing countries, including 31 LDCs.  Economic growth in Africa is high (average growth of the GDP in 2013: 4.5%).  Population, billion of inhabitants in 2013, with 2.5% average increase per year. The African population represents about 16 % of the world population and the median age in Africa is 20.  According to the ITU (2014), Africa is the region with the lowest IDI value (ICT development index); 29 African countries out of 38 (in the south of Sahara) are considered to be among the least connected countries. Very few houses are connected to high speed internet.  However, the number of mobile phone users has been multiplied by 30 between 2001 and 2011 (84.88% of the population estimated in 2015).  The bank sector is undergoing changes, namely for the funding of small and medium sized enterprises.

Postal Sector in Africa It is characterized by: A low mail volume; A very poor quality of service; users have little trust in the postal service; National operators are most often underperforming; the postal staff process 10 times less mail than those of western countries; The sector is in reality very competitive even though the law, in most cases, gives the postal sector a quasi monopoly status The financial situation of the national operator is most often catastrophic: more than 3/4 of African Posts have negative net operating results (UPU statistics).

DPS: African Priorities for Three priorities levels: First level (P1): priorities here deal with major regional projects with significant impact. Second level (P2): priorities deal with projects of limited scope. Third level (P3): large- scale projects which require an important funding to be mobilized outside the UPU Budget.

Results: 1. Mail Quality of Service Twenty nine (29) PAPU member states are participating in the UPU continuous testing. A slight improvement of QS was observed in 2014: with an average of 39.1% of mail distributed within the J+5. Low investments in equipments and staff, as well as an inappropriate organization of the supply chain is a great handicap to mail QS. Mail QS remains a major concern for African Posts

Results: 2. Modernization of Products ICTs have significantly changed social and business communications and led to a serious decline of traditional mail. The modernisation and diversification of postal products and services depend on the availability of electricity and Internet connection. New services focus on electronic postal and financial services. Parcel traffic is not yet benefiting from Internet, intelligent tracking technologies and electronic distribution notifications. The modernization of postal services hinges on an appropriation of ICTs and aptation of infrastructure.

Results: 3. Market Growth Economic development and postal traffic are not yet really related; The drop in international mail volume is continuous, Africa is the continent with the worst performances; Structural constraints, like forcing the addressee to collect his mail at the post office and pay for the service have been an obstacle to the development of postal volumes; Concerning the parcel sector, challenges are even more important: procedures relating to customs and storage in terminal are cumbersome. Technological evolution and procedures modernization: key factors for the growth of letter post market.

Results: 3. Market Growth (2) Efforts made in electronic postal payment services, via IFS of UPU, led to the increase of the traffic of postal money orders; Posts have invested in new technologies and are now involved in the person-to- person transfer market, namely via mobile; Some countries are involved in a transformation process of financial services, with the arrival of postal banks. The use of postal networks is an extremely efficient tool for improving financial inclusion and influencing the world financial services market.

Results: 4. Postal Regulation The universal postal service has been defined in almost all countries. The general trend is the liberalization of the postal market. Several countries have multisector Regulatory Authorities as a support to market opening process. The following are general regulators’ missions, among others: Ensure adherence to healthy and fair competitiveness rules; Coordinate the implementation of the development policy for universal service/access; Ensure application of the regulation. National regulatory authorities are called to play a crucial role in the regulation of the universal service performance.

PAPU ability to Meet Changing Market Needs  Projects developed with UPU: QS, market growth, financial services, sustainable development, postal reform.  Major project with the financial support of UAE: development of the postal infrastructure (electrification, connectivity) Réponses données aux pays membres dans le cadre de la coopération avec l’UPU et des pays et organismes de développement.

Priorities for  Postal reform  Quality of service improvement  Densification and modernization of the postal infrastructure  Development of e-commerce  Increased use of new technologies to offer quality postal services  Strengthen postal services security to ensure postal integrity and facilitate customs process for postal items  Accelerate the implementation of postal addressing and post codes.

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