PITNEY BOWES AND POSTE ITALIANE FORM STRATEGIC ALLIANCE TO INTRODUCE INTERNET POSTAGE IN ITALY
PITNEY BOWES AND POSTE ITALIANE FORM STRATEGIC ALLIANCE TO INTRODUCE
INTERNET POSTAGE IN ITALY :: Partnership Launches the First Internet Postage
Program in Europe :: PR Newswire, London, May 3. This press release is
transmitted on behalf of Pitney Bowes.
Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI), the world’s leading developer of mailing
technologies, and inventor of PC postage technology, and Poste Italiane, one
of the world’s largest post offices, today announced the signing of a
strategic alliance to introduce a new postage system in Italy, Internet
Postage.
The new postage system allows any personal computer user with an internet
connection and a printer to place stamps on mail, paying by direct debit on
a postal account or credit card. This marks the first internet postage
program to be introduced in Europe.
Under the multi-year arrangement, Poste Italiane will be co-branding its
internet postage program in Italy with Pitney Bowes through its wholly-owned
subsidiary, Postecom. Phase one of the program will start in the summer,
with a planned nationwide rollout by the end of this year. Internet postage
service and offerings will cost the same as stamps, with no additional user
fees, providing added convenience to businesses and consumers.
“Pitney Bowes is proud to partner with Poste Italiane to pioneer the first
European internet postage program, bringing this convenience and advanced
technology to Italy’s population of 56 million,” said Murray Martin,
president, Pitney Bowes International. “With over 20 years of experience in
securely managing postal funds online with our innovative Postage-by-Phone
network, Pitney Bowes has a proven track record for providing secure
internet postage transactions. As worldwide mail volumes continue to
increase, Pitney Bowes is actively working with digital and internet-based
technologies to create value-added products and services to better meet the
needs of global mailing customers in the new economy. Leveraging internet
economies, expanding internationally and providing more products and
services to customers are cornerstones of the company’s growth plans.”
Established in 1979, Pitney Bowes’ Postage-by-Phone(R) system was one of the
world’s first and largest e-commerce applications, providing customers with
convenient, 24-hour, seven days a week access to postal funds via remote
downloading. Last year, over 26,1 trillion ITL (Italian Lira) in postal
payments were securely managed over the Postage-by-Phone(R) network on
behalf of more than 27 postal authorities around the world. The agreement
between Pitney Bowes and Poste Italiane includes the creation of a
customized internet postage system designed to complement existing Poste
Italiane infrastructure.
The system will also have the ability to exchange information with
“intelligent” meters for added customer convenience.
“We conducted a review of all potential partners to help us implement
internet postage in Italy. We selected Pitney Bowes because they understand
the end-to-end mail and messaging process and have the broadest array of
products and services,” said Corrado Passera, Managing Director of Poste
Italiane. “This is an important step in positioning our postal system for
maximum efficiency – as stated in our Enterprise Plan – within year 2001.”
Poste Italiane recently organised itself to face the internet business,
developing a fully owned internet company – Postecom s.p.a. – with the aim
of launching a complete array of internet services. At its site,
http://www.poste.it, it’s already possible for the customer to find all the
information needed about the postal services, and access to a search engine
for Postal Offices addresses, Zip codes, and for tracking and tracing of
parcels sent through its Postacelere express service. Recently an innovative
Hybrid Mail service, called InterPosta, has been introduced in order to give
to the internet users the opportunity t
