Royal Mail increasingly is looking like BT a year after its own privatisation in 1984.
Both were companies assailed by competition aimed at getting a better deal for the consumer (indeed, you had to be there to appreciate just how bad BT’s service was). Both had one way to increase profit, by cutting costs at their bloated workforces. Both were floated with the attraction of a decent dividend yield to attract the retail punters. Both face, or faced, some interesting regulatory changes. BT was required to open up its network to allow rivals to poach customers.
There are several differences, though. The Mail is much further down the restructuring path than BT was, so there is less to go for. BT could gain some income