The Malta Communications Authority is proposing to accept Maltapost’s request to raise the cost of a stamp for domestic single piece letters weighing 50 to 100g from €0.32 to €0.42. The tariffs for domestic letters weighing less than 50g will not be changed.

The rate of European outbound mail weighing less than 30g will be €0.59 – the weight for the lowest tariff has been raised from 20g to 30g, meaning that items falling in the 21g to 30g bracket will be €0.08 cheaper.

The MCA had already said in 2012 that the tariffs that came into force in 2013 would not be enough for the medium to long-term sustainability of the universal postal services. It had therefore conditionally accepted Maltapost’s requests for further changes in 2014 and 2015.

The authority now says that latest market developments indicate that profitability and volumes will continue to decline, prompting Maltapost to submit a revision of the tariffs in September. The MCA said that some were justified but others were too high or not acceptable, and it is now requesting feedback as part of the consultation process.

A comparison on an EU level shows that Malta’s postal rates for a domestic standard letter and an outbound letter within the EU are much lower than the EU average.

In absolute terms, postal mail volumes handled by local postal operators went up by 1.7 per cent to 21.1 million in the first half of 2013 – but these figures were affected by the post associated with the general election.

The consultation document can be viewed at www.mca.org.mt. Feedback should be sent by December 12.

Maltapost currently provides postal services from more than 60 post offices and sub-post offices throughout Malta and Gozo and employs around 600 employees.