Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

MTITC – Urgent Measures Introduced to Stabilize the Financial Situation of “Bulgarian Posts Plc”

Firstly, all orders for equipment and materials that are not connected with the direct activities of the postal service will be stopped. As a result of the attraction of new clients and the further expansion of the scope of activity of existing clients an increase in the revenue is expected.

The decreased spending will be achieved through a revision of the transportation expenses and a cut in the operations expenses as an overall. There is a need for the urgent introduction of new spending norms of labor as at the moment 70 per cent of the post offices are working at a loss. The organizational change in the company will lead to a decreased number of administrative personnel.

Minister Tsvetkov emphasized the need for optimization of the organizational structure as well as the attraction of capital and know-how. If the status quo remains "Bulgarian Posts" could only set aside 16 million leva for investments for the 2010-2014 time period. This might turn into a hurdle for the development of new activities.  

Securing outside partners might bring in three times the investment capital. There will be an augmentation the overall competitiveness and an increase in the number of new work opportunities which will at their turn lead to more jobs saved, announce the Minister.

In the process of restructuring "Bulgarian Posts", there will be a 100 per cent preservation of the government ownership over the existing actives. With the creation of the five filial companies, Bulgarian Posts will keep 51 per cent of the capital in the new structures. The new associations will not have ownership over the existing actives of Bulgarian Posts and will participate only in the distribution of the profit of the "new business."

The MTITC's team works towards the creation of a competitive environment in the postal services as a whole. MTITC reacted in a timely fashion after the warning of the European Commission that the previous government did not abide by their promise to liberalize the sector. We introduced and defended the changes in the Postal Services' Law in the National Assembly and it has taken into consideration the requirements of the European legislation and the resolutions of the Universal Postal Union.

With the changes in the law, there is no need for registration regime of activities such as electronic transactions, courier services, etc. These services will have the possibility of taking place after an application notice. This change will encourage the development of the sector and will facilitate the work of 78 firms, registered as operators of nonuniversal postal service.  

The main changes are connected to the opening of the market for new operators of postal services. Postal money orders will remain on a licensing basis, outside of the universal service. As a result, private companies will be able to provide the service in an alleviated regime.

One of the most important changes is the fact that private operators which do not have their own offices to service their clients will be able to sign a contract with Bulgarian Posts and use its existing network. It is the widest network in the country which services more than 3000 towns.

For the first time, it is planned for postal operators, providing a universal postal service, to secure with their own finances yearly measuring of the fulfillment of the quality norms by an independent third party.

For additional information:
Emilia Philcheva, Press Centre,
Ministry of Transport, Information Technology
and Communications
Phone: + 359 2  940 94 34
E-Mail: ephilcheva@mtitc.government.bg