UK postal services market opens to full competition from January 2006
29 December 2005
Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services, has reminded mail users that the UK mail market will open to full competition on 1 January 2006, bringing to an end Royal Mail’s 350 year monopoly of this market.
From the beginning of January, customers can start to benefit from new choices in mail services, when postal operators that have been licensed by Postcomm will be able to compete fully with Royal Mail in the letters market. Until now, competition has been limited to bulk mailings of 4,000 items or more.
Commenting on the new choices available to mail users, Postcomm chairman Nigel Stapleton said:
“Limited competition has already delivered significant benefits, with Royal Mail’s quality of service at an all time high and business customers enjoying more innovative products and later mail collection times. With full competition from January 2006, all of us will begin to see new choices across the full range of postal services, and licensed operators will be free to offer mail users the services they demand.
“One highly valued aspect of the UK mail system will remain unchanged by these new developments. That is the universal service provided by Royal Mail: the one-price-goes-anywhere stamp, plus collections and deliveries every working day for every UK address.”
Notes for editors
The bulk mail sector – mailings of at least 4,000 letters – was opened to competition in January 2003. This accounts for about 30% of the mail market, by value.
Although the market is open to full competition from 1 January, the change will, in practice, take effect from Tuesday 3 January 2006, since 1 January is a Sunday and Monday 2 January a Bank Holiday, and there is no postal service on either day.
