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  3. Royal Mail could be made to accept further controls on stamp prices as part of an inquiry announced by the communications watchd

Royal Mail could be made to accept further controls on stamp prices as part of an inquiry announced by the communications watchd

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问题     Royal Mail could be made to accept further controls on stamp prices as part of an inquiry announced by the communications watchdog. Ofcom said it would carry out a "fundamental review" of how it regulates Royal Mail to make sure the company maintains its obligation to deliver to all parts of the country. The regulator decided to undertake the review after Whistl, Royal Mail’s only national competitor for direct delivery of letters, pulled out of the market.
    Whistl, formerly known as TNT and owned by Dutch private postal group PostNL, suspended deliveries last month and withdrew permanently from the market on 10 June. It had planned to expand beyond its existing network in west London, Liverpool and Manchester to deliver to a quarter of the U. K.
    Ofcom said it was concerned that without competition for letter delivery, Royal Mail might fail to make itself more efficient, threatening the universal postal service in the long run. One of the options is to introduce additional controls on the prices Royal Mail charges for its service. After Ofcom gave it greater commercial freedom in 2012, Royal Mail increased the price of first-and second-class stamps by 14p to 60p and 50p respectively.  Prices rose to 63p for first class and 54p for second class in March.
    Royal Mail shares fell 1% to 500p in afternoon trading. Ofcom said: "The review will ensure regulation remains appropriate and sufficient to secure the universal postal service, given the recent withdrawal by Whistl from the ’direct delivery’ letters market, which has resulted in Royal Mail no longer being subject to national competition."
    "Ofcom will consider...whether Royal Mail’s wholesale and retail prices are both affordable and sufficient to cover the costs of the universal service and whether Royal Mail’s commercial flexibility remains appropriate in the changing market. And, if not, whether wholesale or retail charge controls might be appropriate."
    David Kerstens, an analyst at the stockbroker Jefferies, said further curbs on Royal Mail’s charges could make the company less profitable as people post fewer letters. He said: "Stamp prices in the U. K. are at the low end of the spectrum compared with other countries across Europe. A control on pricing would be negative for Royal Mail because they won’t be able to offset volume pressure to the same extent that some of their peers in Europe are able to do."
    Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, accused Ofcom of interfering with its members’ relations with Royal Mail. He said: "Royal Mail is efficient and postal workers are some of the most productive in the U. K. Ofcom has overstepped its remit in criticising terms and conditions and a regulator should not be using efficiency to drive down employment standards."
Ofcom will consider on the service prices of Royal Mail ______.
选项 A、whether it is appropriate to control the fall of the Royal Mail Shares
B、whether these prices are affordable and sufficient to support regulation
C、whether it is appropriate to make the Mail subject to competition
D、whether Mail’s commercial flexibility is suitable in dynamic situations
答案D
解析 D项选项定位到第五段第二、三行：whether Royal Mail’s commercial flexibility remains appropriate in the changing market．其中suitable=appropriate；in dynamic situations=in the changing market。完美的同义替换！A项选项压根就不是监管者考虑的内容。B项选项晚节不保！最后一个单词错了，不是suppot regulation，而应该是suppot operation！C项选项是我拼凑出来的选项，不是他们对价格的监管内容。
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