Communications regulator Ofcom has accused Royal Mail of breaching competition law after it proposed raising prices for its bulk mail delivery customers.
Bulk mail is collected by other postal firms from businesses and passed to Royal Mail for sorting and delivery.
Royal Mail set out the price changes in January 2014, before withdrawing them.
Rival firm Whistl, which had planned its own delivery network, claimed the price hikes were anti-competitive.
Ofcom said its specific allegations include that “changes to Royal Mail’s wholesale prices for bulk mail delivery services contained a differential in pricing which meant that, in practice, higher access prices would be charged to… customers that competed with Royal Mail in delivery than to those access customers that did not”.
At the time that the price increase was proposed, TNT Post – now Whistl – was proposing to launch a rival bulk letter sorting and delivery service for business customers.
Following the price hike, it complained to the regulator about anti-competitive practice on the part of Royal Mail and ultimately gave up on its rival venture.
Full content: Sky News
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
Plaintiffs Seek Communications In Antitrust Case Against Pioneer
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
UK Government Approves Vodafone-Hutchison Merger
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Senate Majority Leader Announces Plan for AI Regulation Framework
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
BBVA Initiates Aggressive Takeover Bid for Sabadell
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
TikTok to Label AI-Generated Content Amid Election Interference Concerns
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Ecosystems
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Mapping Antitrust onto Digital Ecosystems
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Ecosystems and Competition Law: A Law and Political Economy Approach
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Ecosystem Theories of Harm: What is Beyond the Buzzword?
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Open Ecosystems: Benefits, Challenges, and Implications for Antitrust
May 9, 2024 by
CPI