In its application to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Australia Post requested to change the price of basic postage from $1.20 to $1.50 from January next year.

The national postal service recorded a $384.1 million loss in its letters business in the last financial year.

It will cost Australia Post $442 million to meet its community service obligations, as required under the Australian Postal Corporation Act, chief executive Paul Graham said in a statement.

“As we are entirely self-funded and receive no ongoing government funding, we need to ensure we reduce losses in our letters business,” he said.

“We’re committed to maintaining the letters service for communities across Australia, and increasing the basic postage rate will help us continue to deliver for all Australians.”

Graham said 200,000 new delivery locations had been added to postal rounds in the past year, while letter volumes continue to decline and are expected to halve in the next five years.

The price of 60 cent concession stamps will remain unchanged.

-with AAP