The traffic of postal services operated in competition totalled 64 million objects in the first quarter of this year, accounting for 18.2 percent of total postal traffic (both reserved and liberalised services). This figure implies an 11.4 decrease in the number of objects compared to the previous quarter. In the same period of the previous year the traffic of postal services operated in competition also fell, which indicates some seasonality.
During the same period, nearly 55 million national traffic objects were counted, along with 5 million outgoing international traffic objects and about 4 million incoming international traffic objects. The traffic structure remained unchanged: national traffic accounts for 86% of traffic operated in competition; outgoing international traffic accounts for about 8% and incoming for 6%.
In the first quarter the Grupo CTT (CTT and CTTexpresso) was responsible for nearly 93.5% of total traffic and outgoing international traffic. The other operators hold a share of about 17.8% of incoming international traffic.
By service type, 5 million of the 64 million postal objects registered pertain to the express mail category, 8% of the total, while 59 million pertain to other categories.
During the quarter, the traffic of services not covered by express mail dropped by 12% and express mail services dropped by 4.1%.
Regarding the companies' competitive position, the Grupo CTT lost about 2.5 percentage points of share in the express mail area, while the other operators saw their share rise to 61.7%. In the area of postal services not covered by that category, the Grupo CTT had a 97.5% share.
Postal sector employment declined once again between January and March, with 377 fewer workers, which in quarterly terms implies a 2.2% drop in the sector's employee roll.
In the first quarter of 2005 there were 11 entities authorised to provide express mail services and four entities licensed to provide postal services not covered by the express mail category, one of which, CTTexpresso, pertains to the CTT - Correios de Portugal (the universal service concessionaire).
Postal services operated in competition encompass mailed correspondence, books, catalogues, newspapers and other periodicals, as well as postal packages, whose price is above three times the reference tariff (priority mail up to 20 grams) and/or weighing more than 100 grams.
Postal services operated in competition are provided per the award of an authorisation or licence, depending on whether the operator provides express mail services or services not covered by the express mail category.
Consult:
- Postal services https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=277884
