New entrants to the postal market

If you are thinking of applying for a postal licence, Postcomm would be pleased to discuss the licensing application procedure with you.

Full market opening on 1 January 2006 has brought a new opportunity for postal operators to give customers the services they want and need. In January 2008, the licensing framwork was amended with a view to encouraging small and medium-sized operators into the market. Key features of the amendment were: 

• the removal of the annual fee (formerly £1,000) for all licensees with a turnover of less than £10 million per annum in the licensed area
• the reduction of the application fee (formerly £1,000) to £50 for all applicants
• the removal of the requirement for applicants to provide, as part of the application process, information on exactly how they would comply with Postcomm's mandatory mail integrity code, and
• the removal of the requirement for both existing licensees and future applicants to provide a financial guarantee. 

Postcomm’s website includes key facts about the market, and we are always happy to share our knowledge with operators and prospective operators.

If you have any questions about applying for a licence, or the mail market in general, please contact us. You may also find it helpful to read our new factsheets, a series of short guides to key issues in the postal services market.