The South African Post Office (SAPO) is awaiting ministerial approval to issue tenders worth a total of R250 million to begin the second phase of its IT upgrade plan, said group CFO Nick Buick.
He said IT is becoming such an important part of running the Post Office that it now accounts for 50% of its total capital expenditure, with the rest going towards buildings and other physical costs.
SAPO recently completed a similar-sized project of upgrading its IT networks and systems. SAPO COO John Wentzel said this part of the project was focused on building and improving the hardware and connectivity from the head office to regional offices.
“The second and third phases of our IT upgrades will focus on improving the connectivity between the regional and local offices,” he noted.
Wentzel said SAPO was installing its own fibre-optic cables in some parts of the country, and was allowed to as it had a full electronic communications and network service licence.
“However, I don't see ourselves as offering third-party services over our networks in the near future, as we don't want to go into competition with the other network operators,” he said.
Yesterday morning, SAPO presented its 2010 strategy and budget to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications and was warmly received. Its chairman, Vuyo Mahlati, and group CEO Motshoanetsi Lefoka led the SAPO team.
Among the challenges being faced by the Post Office, Mahlati said, was its role in bridging the digital divide, innovation and a review of its delivery systems that include the roles of human capital and IT systems.
“One of our major problems has been retaining IT staff. The issue of remuneration was the biggest issue when we noticed the high turnover of staff in that department,” she told the politicians.
She also elaborated on how the Post Office had been training its managers and other key staff to use computers to do their jobs. This included many of them earning their International Computer Driver's Licences.
“It is amazing to see how these skills enable them in their jobs,” Mahlati said.
During his part of the presentation, Buick said about R250 million of the R684 million government subsidy had been earmarked for the IT capital infrastructure spending.
He said this would be spent on stamp cancelling machines, postal addressing and advance postcode system, bandwidth upgrade, IT disaster recovery, network upgrade, IT security and a new point-of-sale system.
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