The Australian postal market is facing the same challenges as the European postal markets with a sharp decline in letter volumes and the efforts of the national postal operators to grow in the B2C parcel business. WIK-Consult was commissioned by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to undertake three studies, two in connection with the review of Australia Post's price application and one in the context of discussions on the relaxation of the quality requirements in the universal service (Community Service Obligation) in Australia.
The first study is a review of the Australian Post's cost allocation model. In particular, WIK-Consult has analysed the cost allocation between the regulated mail services and the parcel/express services. The review provides recommendations for improving the cost allocation and for adjustments that should make it easier for the authority to review Australia Post's price notifications in future.
In the second study, WIK-Consult analysed Australia Post's progress in improving operational efficiency and compared it with five European postal companies (Deutsche Post, La Poste, PostNL, La Poste, PostNord Denmark and Postnord Sweden).
The third study provides an overview of the regulation and financing of the postal universal service in Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.
At the end of January, the authority launched a second consultation procedure to discuss their preliminary view on Australia Post's proposal. To this end, the ACCC has also made the executive summaries of the first two studies and the overview available for download on its website.
