Delivering tough postal competition
Few markets are harder to open than postal services. Slowly but surely, e-mail, regulation, competition and market fragmentation are forcing national operators to rethink their models. Europe’s pace is about to quicken. Denmark will soon announce the winner of a 25 per cent stake in Post Danmark, with Dutch TPG and Germany’s Deutsche Post among contenders. Belgium wants a minority partner to modernise its service: TPG and France’s La Poste are rumoured to be considering bidding jointly. Cross-border consolidation so far has been held back by slow liberalisation and national sensitivity. Austria balked last year at partial privatisation for fear its service would land in German hands. Change has to come. Under EU pressure, the legally permissible monopoly on letters dropped from 350 to 100 grams in 2003 and falls to 50 next year. Markets are supposed to be open completely by 2009, though several may not be ready.
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