Tag: UK

Postcomm has set the ball rolling on a consultation which could lead to the eventual separation of Royal Mail’s collection and delivery operations in order to improve on current access agreements.

A consultation document was published yesterday to review the current framework allowing rival operators to use Royal Mail’s delivery arm. Earlier in the week, Postcomm proposed the principle of ‘wholesale equivalence’ which has already been adopted by Ofcom to reduce the burden of regulation on BT.

These moves stem from Postcomm’s Strategy Review which was launched in August 2007. As part of this review Postcomm has made a commitment to evaluate the current access agreements and identify and resolve any problems with the existing arrangements.

A letter was sent this week to all postal operators, organisations representing mail users and postal watchdog Postwatch asking for their views on how best to regulate the industry from 2010 when the current price control arrangement expires.

In the letter, Postcomm chief executive Sarah Chambers said: “We want to begin by taking a top-down approach, based on what we have learned from our Strategy Review. We want to consider whether adopting a different approach could allow a significant reduction in the scope of regulation, whilst maintaining sufficient protection for customer and operators in those areas where Royal Mail has substantial and enduring market power.”

The focus of the access review is the current framework under Condition 9 of Royal Mail’s licence and the operation of access agreements. This new consultation is the first phase of an access review and aims to identify what problems – if any – exist with the current access framework. Later phases will consider the remedies needed to resolve any problems, as well as how to implement them.

Notes for editors

On 15 January 2008, Postcomm published an industry letter setting out scenarios for the future of the price control and regulation, including how Postcomm intends to take forward work covering price regulation, wholesale equivalence, cost transparency and access. As part of that consultation, Postcomm wants to consult on how effectively current access arrangements (as established under Condition 9 of Royal Mail’s licence) are working. This follows on from a commitment made in Postcomm’s “Strategy Review: Emerging Themes” report, published in August 2007, in which Postcomm said it planned to undertake a wide review to determine how well access had operated to date and to consider whether the introduction of an Access Code could be an efficient way to address potential concerns regarding non-price forms of discrimination for access users.