Addressing platform What3words has been adopted by Mongol Post, the national postal delivery service of Mongolia, as a new method for addressing postal deliveries across the country and remedying a long-standing lack of proper postal infrastructure.

Mongolia covers an area nearly the size of the European Union, but has no consistent addressing system, with an extremely low population density and even roads in major towns and cities lacking proper names.

Combined with a nomadic population, failed deliveries are commonplace, inconveniencing citizens and holding back the operations of both businesses and government. In many parts of the country, citizens rely on Post Office boxes dozens of miles from their homes, while others have no access to post whatsoever. Deliveries often include convoluted, descriptive instructions based on landmarks, and customers regularly provide a mobile phone number on envelopes and packages so that drivers can call for directions.

Mongol Post is the countrys largest postal service provider, with 900 employees serving over 3m citizens, 30 per cent of whom are nomadic and roam an area of over 1.5m square kilometres.

In an effort to better service consumers, businesses and the government, Mongol Post has adopted What3words, the award-winning location reference system that creates a global grid of 57 trillion squares, three metres by three metres, each with a unique, pre-assigned three word address.

The system works both online and offline, and is available as a mobile app or API. The solution has already been integrated into Mongolias fast-growing online marketplace Mmarket.mn, enabling customers to enter their three word address into the checkout, as well as helping them discover it for the first time.

“We are on a mission to change the way people communicate location, because we want to make the world a more efficient, less frustrating and safer place,” said Chris Sheldrick, CEO and co-founder of What3words. “Using What3words across the country will help Mongolia leapfrog many nations that still rely on outdated and poorly performing addressing systems.”

“I have been working at the Mongol Post company for 10 years now,” said Batsaikhan Tsedendamba, CEO of Mongol Post. “During this time, we have been presented with numerous local and international addressing systems and technologies. Of them all, I believe what3words is the most user-friendly and optimal technology. We are glad to be introducing this innovation, particularly as we see increasing numbers of postal consumers. We are confident that our cooperation will be a successful one.”