The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued its eighth report assessing cross-subsidy between the services provided by Australia Post.
Australia Post has a statutory monopoly over the delivery of standard letters weighing less than 250g that cost no more than $2.40 to send. All other services provided by Australia Post are open to competition.
The ACCC analyses Australia Post’s regulatory accounts to establish whether its competitive services are being cross-subsidised with revenue from its monopoly services.
“The regulatory accounts do not show that Australia Post is cross-subsidising its competitive services with revenue from its monopoly services,” ACCC Commissioner Joe Dimasi said.
“On the contrary, in 2011 12, Australia Post’s competitive services as a whole were a possible source of subsidy for the monopoly service,” Mr Dimasi said.
To assess whether Australia Post’s competitive services are being cross-subsidised by its monopoly services, the ACCC uses information provided by Australia Post in accordance with ACCC record-keeping rules.
The ACCC was given the power to issue record-keeping rules in 2004 in response to complaints by Australia Post’s competitors that Australia Post was damaging competition by cross-subsidising its competitive services with revenues from its reserved services.
The 2011-12 cross-subsidy monitoring report is available from the ACCC’s website.