MPost will enable customers receive alerts whenever they have a package.
Kenya’s telecommunications firm Safaricom has partnered with postal service company Posta Kenya to roll out five million digital post office letter boxes.
Under the agreement, Safaricom customers can register for the service, dubbed MPost, using their mobile number as virtual mailbox.
The service, which will cost Ksh300 ($3) per year, will notify mailbox owners via text messages whenever they have a package to be collected.
In a statement on Friday, Dan Kagwe, Postal Corporation of Kenya chief said that service was tailored to meet Kenya’s digitised economy.
“We have invested in the MPost innovation to meet the shifting demands of our customers in a modern, digital world. This partnership will enable Safaricom's more than 34 million customers to access postal services from the 625 Postal outlets spread across the country, directly from their mobile phones," said Mr Kagwe.
The service will also allow customers to choose or change their deliveries to their preferred branches by dialling a short USSD code *234#.
Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph said the innovation aimed at creating “value for our customers by empowering them to conveniently and affordably receive parcels and goods wherever they may be across the country”.
Customers can also choose additional services such as mail pickup and doorstep delivery at an additional fee.
Currently, more than 4,000 driving licenses are returned every two months due to failure of their owners to collect them at postal branches countrywide, government figures show.
Also, a number of Kenyans share mailboxes compromising their confidentiality.