OFCOM, the new postal services regulator recently issued a consultation about how postal services should be regulated over the next seven years.
Concerns about the potential impacts of these proposals prompted the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) along with POSTAF (Postal Trade Association) to host a meeting of all key stakeholders in the postal market – including ONEPOST – to explore how best to respond to OFCOM’s consultatation.
This is the first time that representatives from the whole industry – with the exception of Royal Mail – have got together to discuss and coordinate a response to a consultation because they believe that the future of the postal market could be at risk without additional safeguards.
OFCOM’s proposals include a number of changes to regulation but the one that will potentially have the biggest impact on business users is to remove all price controls and allow Royal Mail to charge what it wants for its product and services.
In spite of the different parts of the market represented at the meeting there was agreement on a number of issues such as:
- concerns over whether seven years is too long to set a regulatory framework in a rapidly changing market
- the need for safeguards to prevent Royal Mail abusing its monopoly position, especially with ‘captive’ markets such as billing
- the need for business users to continue to have an arbitration facility to challenge RM decisions about pricing, specifications and terms and conditions
These will be reflected in the responses to the consultation and with form part of a PR campaign highlighting the risks of OFCOM’s proposals.
