Norwegian Post monopoly's days are numbered
It’s the postal regulators themselves who are proposing that European competition directives be phased in more quickly than planned.
Torstein Olsen, a director of the postal and communications authority (Post- og teletilsynet, PT), told newspaper Aftenposten on Monday that he thinks virtually the entire postal service must go out to bid in order for customers to notice new competition.
“We have proposed that Norway must consider liberalizing its postal system faster than the European Union,” Olsen said.
The current postal service, Posten Norge, today has sole rights to distribute sealed, addressed letters weighing less than 350 grams. This distribution service generates some 33 percent of Posten’s revenues.
That right already will be watered down from January 1, when Posten only will have sole rights over letters under 100 grams. Full competition is expected by 2006.
Several foreign services are anxious to break into the Norwegian market, and that’s expected to bring new competition and lower prices to urban areas. Rural areas, however, face higher prices.
That’s because mailing costs can start to reflect not only the weight of a letter or package but the accessibility of the area from which it’s sent.
That in turn is bound to spur political noise in Norway, which for years has tried to protect and boost outlying areas in an effort to keep them populated. Consumer protection groups are already calling for “certain playing rules” that would continue to subsidize and protect rural areas.
