Germany May Trim Postal Monopoly
The German government on Wednesday proposed trimming its profitable postal service’s letter monopoly in response to a European Union ruling but Deutsche Post will still carry most of the mail.
Deutsche Post, which also has express mail and financial-services businesses, enjoys a legal monopoly on delivering letters up to 200 grams for at least 50 U.S. cents. The proposal would narrow the monopoly to letters weighing 100 grams or less at the beginning of next year and to 50 grams or less in 2006, under an EU plan to permit more postal market competition.
Around 90 percent of the company’s regular mail revenue comes from letters under 50 grams, however.
The government proposal is sibject to approval by the German parliament before it becomes law. The government didn’t propose to shorten the duration of Deutsche Post’s letter monopoly, which is valid until the end of 2007.
The government sold 29 percent of Deutsche Post in 2000 but has put off selling a majority stake. In February, Deutsche Post reported net profit rose 4.6 percent last year to 1.6 billion euros ($1.39 billion) from 1.53 billion euros in 2000.
The company’s shares fell 0.65 percent in trading in Frankfurt.
