The first phase of market introduction is a pilot project open to 6,000 active Internet users who will be able to get their post in this way. Customers of KPN Telecom, Nuon (power company), Casema (cable TV company) SNS Bank and VGZ (medical insurance company) can register for the new service at www.Privver.nl. They will be able to receive and archive quickly, securely and easily important items such as bills and statements from banks and other companies. Bills can be paid online by a single mouse-click. Users can log on to Privver from anywhere in the world where there is an Internet connection. Privver is free of charge for the recipient because the sender pays for the digital post. This is the same method that is used for ordinary physical post. Royal PTT Post will evaluate experience gained in the pilot project before deciding whether to roll out Privver nationwide towards the end of this year.

More and more people in the Netherlands are using the Internet actively and intensively. Market research conducted by Royal PTT Post revealed that a growing demand exists among consumers for digital delivery of postal items like bills and statements from banks, insurance companies and public utilities. But consumers were found to be unwilling to visit several websites to fetch digital post. Through Privver, Royal PTT Post offers them a solution in the form of an organised service with their own digital letterbox. Consumers will receive postal items electronically from various companies and organisations through this one letterbox.

Royal PTT Post delivers approximately 23 million physical postal items in the Netherlands every day. As an independent and reliable integrator of postal streams, PTT Post wants to meet the need among consumers for electronic delivery.

Representative market research showed that 70% of the 1.6 million Dutch households that use the Internet actively are interested in having a digital letterbox. Privver is the ideal solution. Consumers will be able to specify how they wish to receive post from the participating companies, i.e. through their ordinary letterbox or through their digital letterbox. Privver enables consumers to keep clearly arranged records of their post.

For many years, companies have been able to tender postal streams such as bills and statements in digital form to a PTT Post division called Print & Mail. The items are printed out and then delivered physically through the postal service. Privver now gives companies an opportunity to respond to their customers' specific wishes by offering them a choice of physical or digital delivery. This is likely to make correspondence between companies and their customers far more efficient. Another advantage of Privver is that cost savings are achievable in the processing of replies and transactions. In short, the digital letterbox is faster, more convenient and cheaper.

Royal PTT Post is part of TNT Post Group (TPG). TPG, with its two brands TNT and Royal PTT Post, is a global provider of mail, express and logistics services. It employs approximately 130,000 people in 58 countries and serves over 200 countries. The company reported sales of EUR 9.9 billion in 2000. TPG is publicly listed on the stock exchanges of Amsterdam, New York, London and Frankfurt.