After more than a decade of wrangling, the European Union is edging gradually towards more competition in the postal market.
The European parliament is due, in March, to vote on whether to back an agreement hammered out last October by ministers from the 15 EU member states. This would increase competition in postal services in two stages starting in 2003, before a review as to whether to open the market completely from 2009.
Read MoreMartin Vial, chairman of the French post office (La Poste), has said in a recent newspaper interview that 2001 was an “extremely difficult” year for the group, with lower operating profits than in previous years because of slower growth than anticipated in courier activity as well as the effects of September 11 and an increase in transport costs. The transition to the euro and the reduction of working hours also played a part.
Read MoreAllan Leighton, Chairman of Consignia said: Markets should be opened up at a pace and in a way that enables customers to have more choice, whilst at the same time gives us a realistic chance to compete effectively and maintain a universal service at a uniform price.
Read MoreBusiness Post welcomes the report issued this morning by the Postal Services
Commission (“Postcomm”), the postal industry regulator, which will permit it to expand its mail operations.
Chief executive of Consignia, John Roberts, told the World At One the company was going to “fight very hard” to compete.
He said Consignia was “certainly not” a new Railtrack in the making.
“I think we’re in a completely different position. One of the things that we want to do is to complete a range of changes that I announced recently, including saving about a billion pounds in our cost base, to make us really fit, to compete in what is going to be a competitive world.”
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