A one-year express mail service (EMS) company licence costs 4.2 million riel ($1,030), with one-year branch licences costing 1.3 million riel ($319). KOH KONG PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION
The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications has announced that the application and renewal of licences for express mail service (EMS) companies can now be made online, as it attempts to ease the registration process in response to low application numbers.
Ek Chhunnary, an official at the ministry’s General Department of Post and Telecommunications, said that the launch of the online licence application service was to streamline the process for service users, in response to a large number of postal service providers not yet having been registered with the ministry.
She declined to provide figures for companies that have already registered for licences.
Meanwhile, industry players have voiced optimism that the sector will continue to grow, and that earlier fears that the easing of the Covid-19 crisis would lead to reduced demand in such services were unfounded.
“Even though the Covid-19 crisis has largely ended … the technology is advancing and the service is growing in line with the technology,” said Cambodia Logistics Association president and Linehaul Express (Cambodia) Co Ltd CEO Sin Chanthy.
He said he supported the ministry’s move to bring the licensing process “under control” through offering the online registration option.
“The streamlining of the licensing process is a good thing, not only for Cambodia, but also for other countries. It will also encourage the postal service to provide more accurate and attentive services,” he said.
Chanthy noted that the mail sector has grown significantly since the Covid-19 crisis began, which caused lockdowns in Cambodia and around the world.
But he said that though there are many postal service providers, they have not been very competitive, to the extent that they have been losing out on opportunities, such as not having been able to capitalise on increasing demand for the service in the countryside.
The telecoms ministry on May 25 announced that a one-year company licence costs 4.2 million riel ($1,030), with one-year branch licences costing 1.3 million riel ($319). Applicants are also required to pay 20,000 riel for a document review.
The ministry said that licence applicants can visit service.mptc.gov.kh, and use their CamdigiKey from the CamDx Information Technology Platform to login and fill in an application form.
However, for those hoping to open provincial branches, the ministry said it recommends applying for such permits directly in the province’s post and telecommunications department.
