Prices of postal services that integrate the universal service provision must comply with the principle of affordability for all users [point a) of paragraph 1 of article 3].
When applying and verifying the general principle of affordability for all users, and without prejudice to the application of specific rules provided for in articles 8, 9 and 10, analysed earlier, ANACOM must take into account, in particular (article 7):
a) family expenditure with postal services;
b) information collected by ANACOM within the scope of postal service consumption and satisfaction surveys (for example residential and business customers);
c) price increases that, while required in the scope of the application of the principle of cost-orientation of prices, may put at risk the commercial viability of users (companies) of the service, in case the service is a critical input to their activity and service expenses play a relevant role to their financial position;
d) the need to prevent price increases from entailing sharp traffic falls, namely due to the elasticity of demand and/or its transfer to electronic communications means, with a subsequent increase of unit costs, which could lead to a spiral process jeopardizing the economic and financial viability of the universal service provision.
According to data from the 2010/2011 Enquiry to Family Expenses pursued by INE (the National Statistical Institute), postal services have but a negligible weight in the shopping basket of Portuguese families (around 3€ in a total of 20 thousand euros per year, that is, they represent on average 0.02% of total annual expenses; on the contrary, expenses with communication services amount on average to around 662€ per year).
Moreover, according to the survey on the use of postal services developed by ANACOM between November and January 2017 1, it was found that, on average, the average monthly expense of respondents with postal services was around 1.79 euros (this expense was equal to 2.6 euros per month in 2014 2). Note that only 29% of respondents (389 of the 1340 respondents) of this study stated that they used postal services in the last 12 months prior to the date of the interview.
In view of the above analysis, and taking also into account the overall application of pricing criteria (namely established maximum price variations and the application of the principle of cost-orientation of prices), it is deemed that, as a whole, CTT’s price proposal complies with the principle of affordability for all users.
1
2 Source: ANACOM, "Survey on the use of postal services - 2014".
