Britain among the EU leaders in Postal Competition
From HERMES-GOVERNMENT PRESS RELEASES, March 13th, 2001
Britain is ahead of most of its partners in the European Community
in opening its postal market to competition, Graham Corbett,
Chairman of Postcomm, the UK postal services regulator, told a
conference in Brussels today.
In most member states, the ‘reserved area’ (generally post below 350
grams) remained a monopoly reserved for the sole universal service
provider.
By contrast, in the UK, from 26 March, the Post Office would no
longer hold a statutory monopoly.
‘It is fair to say that the UK has taken the opening of its postal
market significantly ahead of the game. It is therefore a pity that
this does not seem to be widely understood,’ Mr Corbett said.
Competition could provide more choice and better value for customers
because firms compete with each other on price and quality. It could
also encourage innovation and a healthy drive for efficiency.
‘People are not looking for a revolution,’ Mr Corbett said. ‘But
they do want to see change and choice in response to their needs and
priorities. This is what introducing competition has to be about –
promoting better postal services for people and businesses.’
As well as encouraging competition, Postcomm has an overriding
obligation to preserve the universal postal service, and one of the
issues it was tackling was the extent to which the universal postal
service needed to be supported. This required assessment of:
– whether the universal service was, on balance, an obligation or a
commercial benefit;
– if it was a commercial benefit, would that continue if the Post
Office’s market share fell under the pressure of competition?
Postcomm would also have to consider whether the Post Office could
finance its licensed activities in a competitive market.
None of this could be done hastily, Mr Corbett added.
‘We will need to take a steady and gradual approach to promoting
competition. We will need at the same time to monitor the Post
Office, giving it the right incentives to change from within. To
become more efficient. To allow it to compete effectively. And
throughout this gradual process, to ensure that efficiency benefits
are passed back to postal users.’
Introducing competition involved an important cultural change for
the UK postal industry and its workforce. ‘We recognise the concerns
of the workforce that competitors might move in and cherry pick work
from the UK Post Office. That is why we will think very carefully
before licensing competition. But these concerns will be best
addressed if the UK Post Office responds to the challenge of
competition by providing the sort of efficient and effective
services that customers want.’
Note to editors:
Mr Corbett was speaking at the Fourth Annual European Postal
Services Conference, organised by Institute of Economic Affairs.
ENDS
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