'Free PAF' plans axed for sell-off

Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File – better known to the industry simply as PAF – will be packaged up as part of the postal operator’s sell-off, despite calls for it to be available free of charge.
The database, which contains more than 24 million separate address details, is valued at up to £900m and will be included in the Royal Mail flotation – expected in October.
PAF is worth £26m in annual revenues for Royal Mail, and sources claim it will make the postal operator a much more attractive proposition.
The move ignores a recommendation from the Government’s data tsar – Open Data User Group chair Heather Savory – who called for the file to be made available free of charge to all firms.
At the time, Savory’s demands were criticised by some sections of the DM industry, who feared it could lose its cache. They were also worried about how often it would be updated.
The plan to press ahead with including PAF in the Royal Mail package has drawn criticism from Internet ‘founder’ Tim Berners Lee, who claims the file represents a critical piece of “national information infrastructure.”
He said: “It is disappointing that the address file has not been made public, a blow to the efficiency of UK businesses large and small. But we have hope.
“The decision has been made to leave the file in the care of the [privatised] Royal Mail. The Royal Mail may well decide to do the right thing and make it available as open data. This will allow the UK to participate in the explosion of location-based and mobile services happening around the world.”