Turkish Post Office to expand overseas

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

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Turkey’s national post office (PTT) will expand its operations overseas, its chairman and general manager told Anadolu Agency on Oct. 28.

Harun Maden said PTT would be expanding its operations into international logistics, goods transport and package deliveries.

For the expansion, PTT will partner with Turkish Airlines, whose large international flight network will offer cargo facilities, he added.

“Classic postal services are declining, as consumers use the Internet. But the increase in package deliveries from electronic commerce allows us to compensate for this decline. We will partner with Turkish Airlines, which has one of the most important flight networks, including 279 destinations around the world, to create a new company for goods transport and package deliveries,” Maden said.

Maden said the new company will focus on online commerce, which PTT first entered two years ago.

“People used to go to do their shopping in a store and carry the items they bought home in their cars. But now we see a day-by-day shift in shopping to e-commerce, to the Internet. This change is occurring rapidly around the world and it is developing rapidly in Turkey. As PTT, we want to become the primary actor in the transport of packages via e-commerce. We have initiatives in both the local and international areas to this end,” he added.

But legislation regulating PTT must be completed before the new business can start up, Maden said.

Liberalization of the European postal sector took place approximately 20 years ago, but Turkey enacted similar legislation only two years ago.

“As a result, the state regulation of the sector is unfinished and incomplete. We plan to expand both in our country and abroad with partnerships in Europe and Asia after the completion of those regulations,” Maden noted.

Unfinished regulations

“We are unable to support our activities in this area with the necessary funding and marketing due to incomplete legislation and lack of infrastructure for our company. So proceeds have been relatively weak. But after the completion of legislation, e-PTTavm.com will become a significant marketing platform. Currently, countries such as Kosovo, Albania, Jordan and Iran have asked to use this portal in their own language. We are working on this issue. We will provide this service soon,” he said.

Maden pointed to two requirements important for the success of e-commerce sites: The first is fast and safe delivery and the second is payment. 

“We have a postal service for deliveries and we also provide payment services through the PTT Bank. So I believe we will be very successful in this area with both our own sales portals and with other companies operating in e-commerce,” he said.

The first post office in Turkish territory was opened on Oct. 23, 1840 and the postal service celebrates its 175th anniversary this week.

PTT earned a profit of 287 million Turkish Liras ($98 million) in 2014 and 219 million liras ($76 million) in the first eight months of this year. 

Its countrywide network includes 4,700 offices, 40,000 workers and over 7,000 vehicles. Nearly all offices provide customers with banking services with PTT Bank, which was introduced in March 2004.