The Universal Service Obligation in a liberalized market: evidences from the postal sector.

The aim of this work concerns the study of the Universal Service Obligation (USO) that characterizes the postal market. Starting from the liberalization path that has conducted the sector to the actual scenario in which firms can freely compete, the first chapter shows the reasons and the results this process has reached. Economic reasons like the classification of the postal industry as a network one and its potentiality of being a two-sided market have been investigated, along with the changes the liberalization have produced in the Member States. In a market where the digital era is producing the most its effect, the reshaping generated by the coming of new technological means in the postal sector are found in the guise of lower revenues and increasing e-substitution. The second chapter deals with the postal USO in itself with a focus on several of its traits. The subject that fits well with its provision, the best way of calculating the related net cost and different compensation mechanisms that can be implemented to pay it back are all problems that will be discussed. If among all the operators active in the market after the liberalization it is not so easy to identify the one that should be entrusted with the USO, the computation of its cost is even more difficult. In doing so, factors like the degree of competition or the level of profit the undertaking faces under the two scenarios can be considered or not, depending on the selected method. The third and last chapter focuses on the consequent State aid problem. As already mentioned, the fact that the operator entrusted with the service is not able to sustain alone the USO cost, implies the State intervention. The problem arises because, in order to guarantee the correct development of competition, it is important to ensure that the compensation granted by the State corresponds exactly to the actual burden the undertaking sustains to provide the universal service. Within the chapter, after a broad overview, the question is contextualized in real cases. Two of them, the Belgian and the Italian, have been selected. Ranging over a set of different situations and ending in different ways, they constitute valid examples to introduce the topic. Eventually, what comes up from this choice is that, if the matter of the guiltiness is important, it is not the only aspect that should be looked at. Especially in sectors like the postal one, the complexity can be dissolved thanks to a comprehensive analysis, able to touch how many points as possible.