Royal Mail has withdrawn its latest price changes for access customers, bringing an Ofcom dispute resolution process to a close.
Ofcom announced on 4 September that it would handle a dispute between Royal Mail and the Mail Competition Forum (MCF), which represents 17 access customers, the organisations that use Royal Mail’s network through the access regime. The dispute concerned price changes Royal Mail notified on 23 July as part of Contract Change Notice 129 (CCN 129).
Ofcom was due to decide whether the changes were fair and reasonable under access conditions USPA 3.1A and 3.1B. With CCN 129 now withdrawn, Ofcom has closed the process without a ruling.
The practical result is that the CCN 129 prices will not take effect, so current terms remain in place. Because Ofcom made no finding, there is no decision on whether the proposed prices would have met the fair and reasonable test.
It also leaves open whether Royal Mail will bring forward revised pricing. Any new proposal would be open to the same challenge.