Author: Archive

Mail volumes to continue slide (UK)

Posted by | Jan 3, 2008 | |

Only 37 per cent of businesses predict their mail volumes will increase over the next five years, a 13 per cent decrease from predictions made last year, according to a Postcomm study.

Postcomm’s annual Business Customer Survey among over 1,800 businesses reveals that while in 2006 50 per cent of businesses believed there would be an increase in mail volumes over the next five years, in 2007 only 37 per cent believed mail volumes would rise.

Over 40 per cent predicted the volumes would plateau, while 11 per cent of businesses predict a decrease in their mail volumes over the next five years. Financial services firms remain the biggest mailers, but use of mail in sectors such as charities, and health are set to increase.

One in five businesses have explored alternatives to using mail and have switched to other media, such as email, in the past 12 months.

The survey shows that Royal Mail continues to be the main service provider to business customers, serving 100 per cent of firms surveyed. Even customers which have moved some mail to alternative providers continue to use Royal Mail for most of their mail. Overall, 97 per cent of mail across the total sample was sent via Royal Mail. While perceptions of service quality have improved across Royal Mail and the alternative operators.

The research also reveals that a larger number of small businesses are beginning to benefit from competition, but much more needs to be done before small firms can experience the full benefits that larger mailers have seen since the market was opened.

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NIPOST Reads Riot Act to Unregistered Courier Firms

Posted by | Jan 3, 2008 | |

Post Master General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), Alhaji Ibrahim Mori Baba, said the Agency would continue to clamp down on unregistered courier companies.

Baba stated this during the opening of the new office complex of Bowill Errands Limited in Lagos.

Debunking the claim that the parastatal had been ‘soft’ on unlicenced courier operators, the Post Master General, represented by Mr Julius Anjorin of the Courier Regulatory Department, said NIPOST had always been on the trail of illegal courier operators.

According to him, the issue at stake here is that in pursuing these unlicenced operators, we have to strictly follow laid down guidelines, so that we won’t be faced with unwarranted litigations. We have to be very careful in our ‘war’ against them, so that we won’t have series of litigations in our hands.

NIPOST’s claim, saying “the end of illegal courier firms was near,” adding that most of the companies who patronise do so out of ignorance.

Oladapo, who is also General Secretary of Association of Nigeria Courier Operators said: “There is no proliferation of courier companies. “The Nigerian economy, given its size, population and volume of economic activities can still accommodate more courier companies,” he said, and applauded the economic reform policies of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

“The financial sector reform has had tremendous impact on the economy, especially the recapitalisation of the banks. Banks now have enough funds and because they must manage their liquidity with profitability, they can’t just keep this funds idle.

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Deutsche Post expects sales decline in US express operations

Posted by | Jan 3, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post World Net AG is increasingly facing the impact of the US subprime crisis on the US economy in its express operations, Chief Executive Klaus Zumwinkel told Capital magazine in an interview to be published tomorrow.

He said he sees sales declining by a one-digit percentage, to which Deutsche Post will react by cutting costs and capacities.

Deutsche Post in November said it no longer expects to return to profitability in its US express operations by the end of 2009, as previously expected, but did not give a new date. It has posted unspecified losses since it entered the US express market in 2004.

Separately, Zumwinkel reiterated the German mail services company could sell off its banking unit Deutsche Postbank AG. ‘During the current year, we will consider how to proceed with Postbank,’ he said.

He said he preferred a German buyer for the bank.

‘Postbank is perfectly suited as an inexpensive and efficient platform on which the German capital market can advance,’ he said.

Meanwhile, Postbank could face further losses due to the US subprime woes, if the crisis spills over to other investment types such as equities, Zumwinkel said.

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How Poste Italiane is truly delivering

Posted by | Jan 3, 2008 | |

Interviewed in his Rome office, Mr Sarmi cites figures showing that in its European sector, PI, largely because of its financial services divisions, has the highest earnings before interest and tax rate of 16 per cent, compared with TNT’s 12.7 per cent, and minus 0.1 per cent for the UK’s Royal Mail.

Fortune magazine ranked PI in the top 10 “most- admired companies in the world” for logistics, while Cisco in 2007 gave the Italians the “best corporate IP network” award this year, describing them as “the European leader for hybrid electronic mail and document processing”.

In terms of volume of transactions, PI’s Banco Posta in effect ranks as the number one retail bank in Italy although it is still waiting for its licence from the treasury.

It holds EUR 300bn (USD 441bn) in savings. The life assurance division ranks number two or three, says Mr Sarmi, who has also just launched a mobile phone service that aims to attract 2m users in three years.

While Royal Mail plans to close 2,500 branches across the UK over the next 18 months, PI – which has roughly the same number, about 14,000 – added 100 more this year.

Mr Sarmi, who joined PI in 2002, wants liberalisation as soon as possible, but he says the French and Italian governments want the target date put back from 2009 to 2011. The UK market was liberalised in 2006.

Privatisation remains the Italian government’s stated goal, but Mr Sarmi sees no decision on the horizon.

Investment banks have valued the company at EUR 14bn to EUR 15bn.

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PRC seeks comment on USPS annual compliance report

Posted by | Jan 3, 2008 | |

The US Postal Service filed its annual compliance report for the fiscal year 2007 with the Postal Regulatory Commission.

The PRC is seeking feedback on the report in order to determine if it complies with Title 39 of the United States Code. The report includes detailed costs, revenues and volumes for all classes and types of mail. It also provides service measurement and customer satisfaction data. Comments are due by January 30, while reply comments are due on February 13.

For interested parties, the PRC will be holding two informal technical conferences on January 11 and January 23 at its hearing room in Washington. USPS analysts will be on hand to answer questions about the report, as well as concerns about the periodicals cost model.

This is the first compliance report that the USPS has filed since the passage of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 by Congress. However, because fiscal year 2007 was a transition period, postal rates and fees during this year were governed by provisions of the former Postal Reorganization Act, rather than the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.

In the report, the USPS noted that it plans to file its comprehensive statement for fiscal year 2007 with the PRC in early or mid-January.

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OPTA (Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority of the Netherlands), publishes its Vision 2008

Posted by | Jan 2, 2008 | |

OPTA (Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority of the Netherlands), publishes its Vision 2008. – January 2, 2008
Press Release
OPTA presents its Vision 2008: ‘OPTA focuses regulation on prevention and decisions supported by market parties’. Today OPTA, the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority of the Netherlands, published its Vision 2008. In addition to the developments in the electronic communications and postal markets which the regulatory authority outlines in this document, it also sets out its vision for regulation and its role as a regulator. To OPTA market developments are leading for its regulatory activities. Convergence, which refers to the merging of markets, is still the overriding force in the electronic communications markets. The dynamics of these markets demand effective regulation by OPTA. The regulatory authority is capitalising on this by increasingly moving towards prevention and seeking decisions that are supported by market parties. Policy on electronic communications Due to convergence the regulation of electronic communications is becoming more closely related to the regulation of media and frequencies. OPTA uses ‘convergence’ as a reference to technological developments that are making it possible to provide content and applications through multiple, different types of networks using identical techniques. In the case of frequencies, mobile and wireless networks are capable of providing the similar services as those of conventional fixed networks. This means that the issue of such frequencies has an economic impact on the markets which OPTA regulates. With regard to media, convergence is increasingly raising questions involving the effects (ancillary or otherwise) which obligations imposed by the Media Act [Mediawet] have on competition in the electronic communications markets. This requires that OPTA and its fellow regulatory authorities work more closely together in this field. The regulation of telecommunications in the Netherlands is rated second on a recent European scorecard [1]. The main difference between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, which topped the list, is that responsibility for regulating both frequencies and media has been vested in the British regulator, Ofcom. OPTA deems it advisable for the government to envision a broader policy on the interaction and relationship between the policies governing media, frequencies and sector-specific competition for the telecommunications sector. Focus on prevention and decisions supported by market parties OPTA endeavours to adopt a tailored approach in its regulatory work, being flexible where possible and strict where necessary. For instance, OPTA only imposes remedies where there are grounds for doing so, for example, if this is evident in market analyses. This method of operation complements the government’s view of “high trust”, which entails that a regulator and those parties subject to its regulation move towards developing a relationship that is characterised by trust, which confines the burden of regulation to a minimum, and which involves the imposition of stiffer sanctions if this trust is betrayed. After 10 years of (telecoms)regulation OPTA’s focus is shifting to prevention. For these reasons, it welcomes businesses that are working on a compliance programme. Consequently, OPTA is closely monitoring the compliance programme which KPN is establishing. In addition, OPTA is seeking solutions that enjoy the support of market parties involved, because this can improve the effectiveness of its regulatory work, for example, by avoiding wearisome legal proceedings. The threat of regulation is necessary for this purpose. Examples of this include the leading role which OPTA is playing in relation to the market parties involved in the All-IP process and the covenant agreed to by mobile telephony service providers, under the terms of which terminating call charges have been reduced.

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Deutsche Post's DHL buys Singapore facility for 38 million Singapore dollars (USD 26.49 million)

Posted by | Jan 2, 2008 | |

DHL said it has bought a cargo transshipment facility in Singapore from Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) for 38 million Singapore dollars.

The facility has been operating under lease from SATS since 2001.

The facility, which sits on an 18,000 square meter site, is capable of processing 5,300 shipments per hour at its peak and is expected to increase its cargo handling capacity to more than 11,000 shipments per hour by 2011.

“Our infrastructure in Singapore is an important link in our network of express hubs in Asia Pacific, and owning the building allows for future expansion as trade flows increase,” said Stephen Fenwick, DHL Express’ senior vice president for operations in Asia Pacific.

DHL’s hubs in Asia are in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Incheon, Shanghai and Sydney.

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