French post office unveils 5 year plan
Jean-Paul Bailly, chairman of the French post office (La Poste), yesterday announced plans to bring his organisation up to a level where it can compete with its German and Dutch counterparts, Deutsche Post and TPG respectively, by 2007. This strategy, which is intended to prepare La Poste for the liberalisation of the European postal sector, involves a 1bn-euro programme to modernise the French group’s mail-services division, including more than 600m euros for automation equipment. Christian Kozar, head of La Poste’s mail services, points out that only 60 per cent of its activities are automated, compared with 90 per cent for both Deutsche Post and TPG.