The Scotsman

Royal Mail stung with £50m Ofcom penalty

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0 Royal Mail will appeal the decision, claiming its price changes were ‘never implemente­d or paid’

The communicat­ions regulator has fined Royal Mail £50 million for a “serious breach” of competitio­n law.

Ofcom said the company abused its dominant position by discrimina­ting against its only major competitor for delivering letters, Whistl.

The penalty follows an investigat­ion into a complaint by Whistl, one of Royal Mail’s wholesale customers.

The complaint was linked to changes Royal Mail made to its wholesale customers’ contracts in 2014, including price

increases. The price rises meant that any of Royal Mail’s wholesale customers seeking to compete with it by delivering letters in some parts of the country, as Whistl was, would have to pay higher prices in the remaining areas – where it used Royal Mail for delivery.

Royal Mail said it will appeal against Ofcom’s decision, claiming its price changes were “never implemente­d or paid”. It said: “Royal Mail strongly refutes any suggestion that it has acted in breach of the Competitio­n Act.”

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