Australia Post is looking to speed up delivery of its digital mailbox service and continue to rollout its 24/7 parcel lockers and superstores program by Christmas, CEO Ahmed Fahour said.

Fahour made the comments after presenting OzPost’s annual results yesterday. The government-owned corporation posted – no pun intended – a $281 million profit for the year to June 30, up 17 per cent on the previous year. Its parcels and retail operation made a $546 million profit, outweighing a loss of $148 million in its traditional mail business, due to falling mail volumes.

Fahour said the digital mailbox system, which will be launched next month, will enable all Australians to receive mail from governments and businesses through a secure Web site.

“This is not e-mail because it has no spam, it is not open to having other people intercept it as easily as e-mail and you’ll be able to do your payments (on it),” he said, adding: “We think the Australia Post Digital MailBox will become an integral part of everyday life.”

Fahour said OzPost would invest more than $2 billion, over the next four years in its national logistics network, and would create a universal digital platform, aimed at offsetting the expected losses for the traditional post business.