The financing of universal service provision in the postal sector has traditionally relied on granting the universal service provider a reserved area. Together with growing electronic substitution, current liberalization policies promoting competitive entry may put the traditional universal...

In the past decades, several countries have introduced reverse auctions for allocating universal service or public mission subsidies in various industries. Examples include urban transport, air transport and telecommunications. Recently, such mechanisms have also been envisioned in liberalized...

The paper analyzes consumer preferences towards a potential two-part tariff in the postal sector. Based on the empirical results we analyze the welfare effects of a two-part tariff when applied in the Swiss letter market.

The paper presents the basic approaches to calculate the cost of the USO and compares them with the requirements of the 3rd postal directive. We conclude that the profitability cost approach will lead to consistent estimations if it is applied in a global way. We illustrate our findings with an...

The paper analyzes recent restructurings of post office networks. Based on these findings an on a time-series estimation of the impact of Swiss Post’s recent realignment of its network on overall mail demand we derive three generic strategies for the long term alignment of Post office networks.

We analyze whether it makes sense to auction off Universal Service Obligations in postal markets. Based on auction theory, case studies and sector-specific considerations we conclude that auctions will be difficult to implement in the postal sector.

The paper analyzes optimal pricing strategies in liberalized two-sided mail markets. Our results tell a cautionary tale with respect to applying two-part tariffs in postal markets, especially for delivery into P.O. box es.

In most member states of the European Union (EU), universal postal services provided by the incumbent operator are exempt from value added taxes (VAT) on the grounds that they are the Òpublic postal service.Ó Other postal service providers have to charge VAT at the standard rate. The paper...

In this paper we analyzed the strategic competition between incumbent postal operators and market entrants in liberalized letter markets based on the “defender consumer model” pioneered by Hauser and Shugan (1983) and derived qualitative normative implications on how an established firm...

The study develops and assesses models to implement a national FTTH network.