Postcomm extends deadline for responses to zonal pricing consultation

On 20th February 2007 Royal Mail submitted a revised application to Postcomm for permission to change the way that it prices many of its bulk mail services. The application seeks permission to be allowed to vary certain business tariffs according to the geographic location of the recipients of mail (known as “zonal pricing”).

On 2 April 2007, Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services in the UK, published a letter seeking views from all interested stakeholders on whether Royal Mail should be allowed to proceed with its zonal pricing application.

We have received a number of requests to extend the current deadline of 7 May 2007 for responding to Postcomm’s consultation letter.

We have carefully considered these requests, weighing them against Postcomm’s requirement to make a decision on Royal Mail’s application to introduce zonal pricing no later than 2 January 2008. Postcomm has decided to extend the deadline for responding to its consultation letter to allow interested parties more time to respond and make full use of Royal Mail’s zonal pricing calculator. We expect that better informed responses will greatly help Postcomm’s analysis in developing its provisional conclusions.

The new deadline for sending your views to Postcomm is 1 June 2007.