ROYAL TPG POST CALLS FOR OPENING EUROPEAN POSTAL MARKETS BY 2007

ROYAL TPG POST CALLS FOR OPENING EUROPEAN POSTAL MARKETS BY 2007    Royal TPG Post, the Dutch postal unit of TPG, on Wednesday called for reducing its Dutch postal monopoly and opening the Dutch, U.K. and German postal markets by 2007.
   In a released proposal, 'Toward Competition Without Frontiers,' TPG Post said its goal was to develop competition while providing service and price guarantees for customers.
   Under the proposal, TPG would:
   * Reduce the statutory monopoly on letters from 100 grams to 50 grams in 2004, ahead of the European Union's date of 2006.
   'As soon as Germany and the United Kingdom open up their postal markets — probably in 2007 — the Netherlands can fully open up its market,' TPG Post said.
   * Provide incentives for competitors to develop services on their own. Competitors would be allowed to put up public post boxes, thus ending TPG Post's monopoly. Competitors would also be able to use post offices as outlets for their services on commercial terms and conditions.
   Under its proposal, TPG Post would guarantee customers that:
   * Existing cost controls would remain in place until 2007. The price consumers pay for domestic letters in the Netherlands (39 eurocents), would increase no more than once in the next five years, and then not more than the general rate of inflation.
* TPG would maintain service levels and honor its commitments regarding number of postal outlets.
   Through opening the market, postal services will have become a regular industry and would not longer require special regulation, TPG said.