Deutsche Post mulling free newspaper launch
German mail and logistics group Deutsche Post is planning to launch a free newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) said.
A Deutsche Post spokesman told Reuters on Sunday that such a freesheet would be “a legitimate idea” but that “there are no concrete plans at present.”
The European Union wants to liberalize the postal services market in the 27-nation bloc from 2009 and Deutsche Post is under pressure to find new sources of revenue as its national monopoly on letter deliveries ends.
The German government plans to end its last remaining monopoly — delivering letters under 50 grams — from the start of 2008.
The FAS said Deutsche Post could launch a free newspaper soon.
Earlier attempts to launch free newspapers in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, have met with stiff opposition from the country’s established newspaper publishers.
