These identity will offer the person convenience and hassle-free transactions and will also move along with the person in whichever part of the country he/she is living. Developed by Oman Post in collaboration with Vantage Post Technologies BV of the Netherlands — a global leader in digital document portals — ePost also offers every individual a virtual post box as well.

“With this new initiative we are going to completely revolutionise the postal service,” says Saif bin Amir al Shaqsi, Chairman of Oman Post, adding, “Very much a part of the eOman initiative of our nation’s government, the ePost service is the logical next step for postal services the world over. I take pride in the fact that this first step has been taken right here in Oman.”

One can simply receive a unique ID of his own by registering at the Oman Post. Using the ID which is far more than an e-mail address people can send and receive digital mail. All users will be verified by Oman Post and the system is operated in collaboration with the Information Technology Authority of Oman (ITA).

Another advantage of e-Post is that mails can be recalled before it has been opened by the recipient. Documents can also be verified through the ‘Document Authentication feature’ so the possibility of fraudulent certificates, etc is removed. “These are just a few of the features that will be offered initially and more will be added to the system in a phased manner over the coming months”, Al Shaqsi adds.

e-Post also aims to become a means of communicating between individuals and government departments so that applications and other processes are simplified. Another great feature that will be offered is the Virtual Box. This solves the problem of the lack of individual post boxes. A paid subscription service which will come at a nominal annual fee, the Virtual Box feature will allow individuals to receive real printed mail with notifications through their e-Post ID.

When mail arrives at the post office, a message will be sent to the intended recipient who can then request that the mail is held at the post office of their choice for collection, redirected to a physical post box of their choice or collected by a person whom they authorise. With the Holiday mail service, mail recipients can even request that their mail is held for them until they return to collect it at the post office so the risk of mail that is left lying on an office desk getting lost in their absence is removed.

e-Post will also offer e-Stamps so that subscribers can print our their mail whether an ordinary letter, a postcard or a greeting card and affix an e-Stamp before dropping it into the nearest post box for delivery to any destination in the world. Oman Post invites people to register for the e-Post service. It is also possible for subscribers to choose their own e-Post ID number — this could be a birthday, anniversary or any other number the user prefers.

This is subject to the number not having been assigned to anyone else so subscribers should log on to e-Post.om at the earliest. e-Post will have a registration and information desk set up at Comex 2012. With effect from the date of this release the registration process has begun and the e-Post service from the portal www.epost.om will start by June and the services such as FollowMe, Virtual, Doc Authentication, Track and Trace and e-Stamp will be rolled out over the next twelve months