Postal mail volumes drop as ICT takes over
Isaac Pinielo | Thursday July 27, 2017 15:30
The statistics show that the total volume of posted parcels decreased by 1.3% in 2015, from 18,571 total parcels dispatched in 2014 to 18,815 parcels in 2015.
Foreign received parcels decreased by 56.3% in 2015, reducing from 7,202 parcels in 2014 to 3,148 parcels in 2015.
Registered items posted also decreased by 25.1% in 2015, from 319,920 items recorded in 2014 to 400,217 items recorded in 2015. However, foreign registered items increased by 25.1% from 19,230 items in 2014 to 24,057 in 2015.
Both dispatched and received express mail service (EMS) items decreased in 2015. Foreign dispatched express mail items decreased by 35% while foreign received EMS items decreased by 6.1% compared to the previous year.
However, the volume of mail circulated within and outside Botswana showed that international mail received increased by 51.2% in 2015 while international mail dispatched increased by 23.1%.
Domestic mail also experienced an increase in 2015, registering a growth of 40.3%.
Letters or cards dispatched and received increased by 2.3% in 2015, from 8,170,944 items recorded in 2014 to 8,361,903 items in 2015.
Printed matter increased by 248% in 2015, it recorded 1,547,888 items in 2014 and 5,387,135 items in 2015.
On the other hand, small packets increased by 23.5% in 2015, from 42,860 items recorded in 2014 to 52,930 items in 2015. Meanwhile, the contribution of the postal and communications services sector to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has also shown sluggish growth.
The sector’s contribution to GDP was nearly P145.9 million or 2.4% in 2015, increasing with a measly 0.9% from 2006, according to SB data.
The value added to the sector at constant prices increased from P2.2 million to P2.4 million in 2015 while the annual growth rate in 2015 reduced by 2.6% from the previous year.
On the other hand, internet subscriptions rose by 39.2% during the period under review, from 2.52 million subscriptions in 2014 to 3.51 million in 2015.
This increase resulted from the growth of both mobile internet subscriptions from 2.5 million subscriptions in 2014 to 3.5 million in 2015 and fixed internet subscriptions from 27,867 in 2014 to 36,845 in 2015.