Koninklijke PTT Nederland NV, which is actively seeking to penetrate other markets, notably through acquisitions in Eastern Europe, still relies on business covered by its state monopoly for nearly 90% of its turnover and much of its growth, its 1991 results show. Net profit edged up 2.3% to the equivalent of $660m on turnover up 7.2% to $5,150m, marking a slow-down in growth from 1990. The Network and International activities for which PTT Nederland has a monopoly contributed an overwhelming $4,215m total revenues, a rise of nearly 9% on 1990, while the Commercial division saw turnover flat at $594m. The organisation, which employed 30,500 staff at the end of 1991, blamed inflation and increase investment costs for the low earnings growth. Mobile telephony, paging systems, and the Informer pager-text messager continued to grow strongly from relatively small bases. International telephone traffic within Europe, where PTT Nederland has opened a number of national offices, rose 12.5%, intercontinental traffic rose by 20%.
