The one-year licence, effective immediately, will allow the operator to collect pre-sorted and some unsorted mail.
Deutsche Post intends to pass 90% of the mail it handles on to Consignia for delivery, the remaining 10% will be delivered through its own subcontracted delivery services.
The licence limits Deutsche Post to 40m items a year, half the amount Royal Mail handles in a day.
Postcomm, the government watchdog, is set to begin opening up the UK postal market in January, with full deregulation completed in five years.
Consignia, which operates Royal Mail, is cutting 32,000 jobs in an attempt to stem losses of 拢1m a day and return to profitability.
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