Postcomm decide on Royal Mail’s zonal pricing request

Postcomm has published its final decision on modifications to Royal Mail’s licence to change the way that zonal access is priced.

Postcomm has published its final decision on modifications to Royal Mail’s licence to change the way that zonal access is priced.

The changes were proposed in Postcomm’s February 2009 consultation, which responded to Royal Mail Wholesale’s licence modification application received in November 2008.

After considering the issues raised by stakeholders during the consultation, Postcomm decided to make the licence modifications with some minor adjustments to those that we consulted on in February 2009. The main change is that the new four-zone price structure will not now come into effect until April 2010, whereas we had previously consulted on the changes being implemented in 2009.

The later implementation date means that users of Royal Mail’s access services that are priced on a zonal basis will have 10 months to prepare for the new system.

Implementation of the changes in April 2010, will also afford Royal Mail Wholesale an opportunity to consult on making any changes to the national access contracts, such as to the national fall to earth provisions. Any changes could then be made at the same time as the zonal access price changes in April 2010.

Postcomm believes that these licence modifications are important in contributing to the provision of a strong and self-financed universal service, whilst also helping the development and sustainability of both access and end-to-end competition.