Poste Italiane can withstand competition from Amazon - CEO

MILAN (Reuters) - Poste Italiane can weather competition from Amazon.com in its deliveries business, the chief executive of the former Italian postal services monopoly said on Friday.

Last month the Italian government formally authorised the U.S. e-commerce giant to operate as a postal operator in the country through its subsidiaries Amazon Italia Logistics and Amazon Italia Transport.

"They can compete with us on some segments, but Poste has got big enough shoulders to face competition," Matteo Del Fante said on the sidelines of an event in Milan, adding that Poste serves a more widespread network.

In June Poste and Amazon signed a three-year agreement allowing e-commerce products bought through the Amazon platform to be delivered at late hours or over weekends.

"The market is growing, there is room for everyone, we are not afraid of competition," Del Fante said.

In its industrial plan Poste is targeting growth in parcel revenues of 70 percent to 1.2 billion euros ($1.35 billion) by 2022.

($1 = 0.8868 euros)

(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Jan Harvey)