Objectives of postal network density and minimum services provided
(under Base XV of the Universal Postal Service Concession)
I. Scope
1. This document defines:
a) Density objectives of postal establishments and other points of access to the postal network allocated to the concession;
b) Objectives of minimum services provided, including rules on minimum operating periods of postal establishments.
2. Objectives and rules referred to in the preceding paragraph are set for a three-year period, covering the period from 01.10.2017 to 30.09.2020, being guaranteed by the concessionaire (CTT – Correios de Portugal, S.A.) on each and every day they are in force.
3. Objectives and rules referred to in paragraph 1 may be revised prior to the expiry of each period, where required by the exceptional circumstances of the case. The request for revision may be lodged both by ANACOM and the concessionaire.
4. For the purpose of paragraph 1, the following definitions apply:
a) Postal establishments - locations where concessionary postal services are provided and where other services and products supplied by the concessionaire and by third parties may be purchased, namely post stations and post offices, whereby:
i. Post stations - concessionaire establishments, also known as Lojas CTT (CTT stores), where concessionary postal services are provided and where other services and products may be supplied by the concessionaire and by third parties, according to the concessionaire’s objectives;
ii. Post offices - establishments of public or private bodies where, in parallel with other activities, concessionary postal services are provided, within the framework of a contract or other legal instrument concluded with the concessionaire.
b) Other points of access to the postal network - letterboxes, namely marcos and caixas de correio, whereby:
i. Marcos de correio - infrastructures made available to the public, located on the public highway, where users may deposit postal items with the postal network;
ii. Caixas de correio - infrastructures made available to the public, located on the public highway or in public access locations, where users may deposit postal items with the postal network.
II. Density of postal establishments
Objectives of network density at locations where concessionary services are provided are set at the level of postal establishments.
The criterion for the distribution of postal establishments include:
a) Density of postal establishments, defined as the number of inhabitants per postal establishment;
b) Maximum distance of accessibility to the service, expressed in meters travelled by the residing population to reach the nearest postal establishment.
1. At national level, the concessionaire shall guarantee that the average number of inhabitants per postal establishment is lower than or equal to 4600 inhabitants.
2. At national level, the concessionaire shall guarantee one postal establishment within the maximum distance of 6000 meters from the place of residence for 95% of the population.
3. At the level of urban areas, which include predominantly and moderately urban areas1, the concessionaire shall guarantee one postal establishment within the maximum distance of 4000 meters from the place of residence for 95% of the population.
4. At the level of rural areas, which include predominantly rural areas2, the concessionaire shall guarantee one point of access within the maximum distance of 11 000 meters from the place of residence for 95% of the population.
5. In parishes with more than 20 000 inhabitants, the concessionaire shall guarantee at least one postal establishment providing the full range of concessionary services and an additional postal establishment, providing the same range of services, for each additional 20 000 inhabitants.
6. In parishes where the number of inhabitants exceeds 10 000 and is equal to or lower than 20 000 inhabitants, the concessionaire shall guarantee at least one postal establishment providing the full range of concessionary services.
Methodological notes:
a) Only postal establishments which the general public has access to are taken into consideration, being excluded those which are only available for contractual clients or companies;
b) The quantification of indicator 1 is based on data provided by INE for the country’s residing population, according to the 2011 Census;
c) Quantification of indicators 2, 3 and 4:
i. Take account of the distribution of the population at national level, the urban or rural nature of residing areas, according to the typology of urban areas defined by INE (the National Statistics Institute) in 2014 (TIPAU 2014), bearing in mind the Official Administrative Map of Portugal resulting from the implementation of the Municipal Territorial Administrative Reorganisation (CAOP 2013);
ii. The location of residing population is based on data from the 2011 general population census, at Statistical Subsection level;
iii. Do not take into consideration: mobile postal establishments; the post office located in the Selvagens Islands (Autonomous Region of Madeira);
iv. The calculation of areas of influence of postal establishments does not take account of roads for authorities, traffic directions and toll roads;
v. In the calculation of the population that is at a specific maximum distance from a postal establishment, consideration is taken of statistical subsection population the centroid of which is within the referred maximum distance. As such, in case only a part of a specific statistical subsection is within the referred maximum distance, where the centroid of that subsection is within that maximum distance, it is deemed that all the subsection, as well as the population residing therein, is within the referred maximum distance. On the contrary, where the centroid of that subsection is at a greater distance, it is deemed that all the subsection, as well as the population residing therein, is at a greater distance;
d) Without prejudice to the reporting by CTT of values of indicators, under chapter V below, the calculation of indicators 2, 3 and 4 shall be undertaken by ANACOM, using, for the definition of areas of influence of each postal establishment, a road network database of Portugal for each year, updated on an annual basis. This is the relevant calculation to check compliance with objectives set out.
e) In order to check compliance with indicators on percentages, the value achieved by CTT shall be rounded to the decimal place. For other indicators, the value achieved shall be rounded to the whole number.
III. Density of letterboxes
Objectives of network density as far as this equipment is concerned are defined at the level of the geographic points where letterboxes are located, that is, in locations where more than one piece of equipment exists, only one should be accounted for.
The criterion for distribution of letterboxes (marcos do correio and caixas de correio) is the density of letterboxes, defined as the number of inhabitants per point of access to a letterbox, located in the public highway or in public access locations.
1. At national level, the concessionaire shall guarantee that the number of inhabitants per geographic point of access to a letterbox is lower than or equal to 1100 inhabitants.
2. Taking into account the urban or rural nature of covered areas, the concessionaire shall guarantee that the number of inhabitants per point of access to a letterbox is lower than or equal to:
a) Predominantly urban area: 1767 inhabitants per letterbox;
b) Moderately urban area: 881 inhabitants per letterbox;
c) Predominantly rural area: 492 inhabitants per letterbox.
3. The concessionaire shall guarantee the existence of at least one letterbox per parish, as well at least one point of access to letterboxes for deposit of national standard mail, in every parish.
Methodological notes:
a) Letterboxes that present restrictions for use by the general public are not taken into consideration.
b) Letterboxes that may not be accessed for a minimum period of hours every day are excluded. For the purpose of the quantification of indicators, only points of access operating for a 9-hour minimum daily period of time, between 8 am and 10 pm, are taken into consideration.
c) Quantification of indicators 1 and 2 are based on data provided by INE for the country’s residing population, according to the 2011 Census.
d) The quantification of indicator 2 takes into consideration the typology of urban areas defined by INE (the National Statistics Institute) in 2014 (TIPAU 2014), bearing in mind the Official Administrative Map of Portugal resulting from the implementation of the Municipal Territorial Administrative Reorganisation (CAOP 2013).
e) In order to check compliance with indicators on percentages, the value achieved by CTT shall be rounded to the decimal place. For other indicators, the value achieved shall be rounded to the whole number.
IV. Minimum services provided
1. The concessionaire shall ensure the provision of a post service for the blind.
2. In every municipality, at least one postal establishment shall provide the full range of concessionary services, operating:
a) 99% of the cases, all working days for a minimum daily period of 6 hours;
b) In remaining cases, all working days for a minimum daily period of 3 hours.
3. The percentage of postal establishments providing the full range of concessionary services intended for the occasional segment, in the total of postal establishments, shall be at least 75%.
For this purpose, postal establishments providing the full range of concessionary services intended for the occasional segment shall mean postal establishments providing the basket of services more usually used by the occasional segment of users, which includes the following services: standard mail, priority mail, easy mail, registered mail, insured mail, books and parcels, postal orders (issue and payment) and collections.
4. The maximum distance to a postal establishment providing the full range of concessionary services intended for the occasional segment shall be:
a) At national level: 8500 meters for 97.5% of the population;
b) At the level of urban areas3: 5500 meters for 97.5% of the population;
c) At the level of rural areas: 15000 meters for 97.5% of the population.
5. The maximum distance to a postal establishment providing the full range of concessionary services intended for the occasional segment shall be 30 000 meters at the most, for the whole of the population.
6. In rural areas, for population residing more than 10 000 meters away from the nearest postal establishment, postmen shall also perform itinerant customer service operations, which specifically include sale of stamps and prepaid envelopes, acceptance of non-registered mail, acceptance of non-registered and registered mail and home payment of postal orders.
7. The percentage of postal establishments providing the legal summons and notifications service compared to all establishments shall be at least 50%.
8. By virtue of the existence of shorter opening hours in some post offices operating in villages, which cannot operate at an alternative location, the operation of postal establishments for shorter opening hours shall be admitted.
Postal establishments operating for shorter opening hours shall be deemed to be those opened to the public less than 5 working days or 15 hours a week, excluding those opened to the public for a period of at least 5 calendar days and 20 hours a week or more.
In this respect, the following is defined:
a) At national level, the number of postal establishments operating for shorter opening hours shall not exceed 1.5% of all postal establishments;
b) In each municipality, the number of postal establishments operating for shorter opening hours shall not exceed 20% of postal establishments of each municipality or one postal establishment in the case of municipalities with less than five establishments.
Methodological notes:
a) Only postal establishments which the general public has access to are taken into consideration, being excluded those which are only available for contractual clients or companies.
b) Quantification of indicators 4, 5 and 6:
i. Take account of the distribution of the population at national level, the urban or rural nature of residing areas, according to the typology of urban areas defined by INE (the National Statistics Institute) in 2014 (TIPAU 2014), bearing in mind the Official Administrative Map of Portugal resulting from the implementation of the Municipal Territorial Administrative Reorganisation (CAOP 2013);
ii. The location of residing population is based on data from the 2011 general population census, at Statistical Subsection level;
iii. Do not take into consideration: mobile postal establishments; the post office located in the Selvagens Islands (Autonomous Region of Madeira);
iv. The calculation of areas of influence of postal establishments does not take account of roads for authorities, traffic directions and toll roads;
v. In the calculation of the population that is at a specific maximum distance from a postal establishment, consideration is taken of the statistical subsection population the centroid of which is within the referred maximum distance. As such, in case only a part of a specific statistical subsection is within the referred maximum distance, where the centroid of that subsection is within that maximum distance, it is deemed that all the subsection, as well as the population residing therein, is within the referred maximum distance. On the contrary, where the centroid of that subsection is at a greater distance, it is deemed that all the subsection, as well as the population residing therein, is at a greater distance;
c) Without prejudice to the reporting by CTT of values of indicators, under chapter V below, the calculation of indicators 4 and 5 shall be undertaken by ANACOM, using, for the definition of areas of influence of each postal establishment, a road network database of Portugal for each year, updated on an annual basis. This is the relevant calculation to check compliance with objectives set out.
d) In order to check compliance with indicators of percentages, the value achieved by CTT shall be rounded to the decimal place. For other indicators, the value achieved shall be rounded to the whole number.
V. Reporting to ANACOM
The concessionaire shall send to ANACOM, by the 15th day of the 2nd month following the end of the (calendar) quarter concerned, the following information:
a) Information on performance levels (values achieved) for each indicator defined;
b) Information on postal establishments and letterboxes operating by the end of each reporting period.
b.1) For each postal establishment, the following information shall be supplied:
a. unambiguous code of the establishment;
b. type (ex. post station, post office);
c. designation;
d. address;
e. designation of the district, municipality and parish where the establishment is located;
f. code of the parish where it is located;
g. geographic location coordinates, preferably in the WGS84 reference system, with the accurate indication of geographic coordinates;
h. opening hours ;
i. services provided.
b.2) For each letterbox, the following information shall be supplied:
a. unambiguous code of the letterbox and respective point of access that is associated;
b. type (marco or caixa);
c. address;
d. designation of the district, municipality and parish where the letterbox is located;
e. code of the parish where it is located;
f. geographic location coordinates, preferably in the WGS84 reference system, with the accurate indication of geographic coordinates;
g. time of last collection.
c) Information on changes occurred, in each period, in the pool of postal establishments, as well as respective opening hours, including the date of the alteration and respective grounds.
d) Information on changes occurred, in each period, in the pool of letterboxes, including the date of the alteration and respective grounds.
Information referred in b), c) and d) shall be submitted as an electronic file (Excel).
CTT shall identify, where appropriate, the information deemed to be confidential, together with the respective grounds.
1 According to the typology of urban areas defined by INE (Determination No. 1494/2014, Official Gazette No. 144, II Series of 29.07.2014 - 39th Determination of the Secção Permanente de Coordenação Estatística on the typology of urban areas - 2014), known as TIPAU 2014, taking into consideration the Official Administrative Map of Portugal resulting from the implementation of the Municipal Territorial Administrative Reorganisation (CAOP 2013).
2 Idem.
3 Predominantly urban area and moderately urban area.
