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Czech court acquits man suspected of planning murder via Internet ... has called for Royal Mail to be partly privatised to safeguard the quality of the UK's mail delivery service.
Postcomm warned that Royal Mail's financial difficulties would worsen unless bold action was taken.
Nigel Stapleton, Postcomm's chairman, told the BBC that without private sector involvement, Royal Mail may require a government subsidy.
Private sector partnerships had worked in other European countries, it said.
Postcomm is making the proposal to an independent review on the future of postal services that has been set up by the government.
"Postcomm wants to see the government and Royal Mail embrace a partnership approach with the private sector to secure a universal service," Mr Stapleton said.
Royal Mail's 350-year monopoly ended at the start of 2006, when other licensed operators were given the right to collect and deliver mail.
However, it is still obliged to deliver letters to and from anywhere in the UK at a uniform tariff.
It made a loss of Ј279m in the year to the end of March.
The core problem for Royal Mail is that it has lost business in the lucrative bulk mail collection and sorting market, but still must uphold less profitable universal delivery.
Contentious
The BBC's business editor Robert Peston said the proposal was highly contentious and could lead to Royal Mail being partly owned by a private equity firm.
Privatisation in any form would likely be opposed by the Communication Workers Union, the main postal workers' union, he said.
"The prime minister is likely to be irked that such a divisive issue is being forced back on to his agenda," he said.
Postcomm said more competition was needed to ensure that a high-quality service was maintained.
To encourage new operators, it urged that Royal Mail's exemption from VAT should be scrapped.
"Royal Mail needs access to private capital and a stronger set of incentives to enable it to restructure and become more profitable," Postcomm said.
A CWU spokesperson said that Postcomm's proposal overstepped its remit.
"If this was endorsed by the government it would be a political football," the spokesperson said.
(BBC)
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