National Postal Policy Kenya Republic of South Africa United Republic of Tanzania Arab Countries Asia and Pacific Latin America Western Europe Universal Postal Union (UPU) Standard *Source: 32,247 16,500 79,140 14,773 8,675 12,189 3,501 7,558 Inhabitants per Post Office Inhabitants per Post Office Inhabitants per Post Office Inhabitants per Post Office Inhabitants per Post Office Inhabitants per Post Office Inhabitants per Post Office Inhabitants per Post Office Universal Postal Union and Pan African Postal Union Postal Statistics – December, 2001 2.4. The provision of postal services in the rural areas is even more inadequate with an average of 146,000 inhabitants being served per Subordinate Post Office which is usually run on an agency basis and its level of service is considerably lower. 2.5. Competition in the Postal Sector was first introduced in 1989 by utilizing an exceptional provision in the monopolistic postal law of the time thereby allowing the first private operator to be licensed to render courier services. The Communications Sector reforms of 1994 legally liberalized competition subject to adherence to license conditions set down by the regulator. Provisions for the maintenance of a minimum level of a basic service by the TPC throughout the country at a uniform price have necessitated the imposition of licence conditions which has segmented the market accordingly. A reserved service area is applicable to letters and postcards of up to 500 grammes; packets and parcels of up to 10 kilogrammes and is designated as the Universal Postal Service (UPS) and is the preserve of the Public Postal Operator. Other operators are licensed to compete with TPC in the unreserved area. 2.6. Only limited automation is in application by the TPC in the provision of postal services due to limited resources. Automation in TPC has so far been confined to the use of computers for counter operations at selected regional offices; electronic provision of remittance services; track and trace facility of the Expedited Mail Service (EMS) and in the diagnostic testing of quality of mail service Ministry of Communications and Transport 4