Revised .com agreement under fire

Domain name registrar BulkRegister has attacked the recently revised agreement between Icann and VeriSign

Business domain name registrar BulkRegister has attacked the recently revised agreement between Icann and VeriSign, arguing that the new deal "differs little from the original settlement proposed".

The deal would give VeriSign the power to raise .com domain registration fees by seven per cent in four of the next six years, instead of in all six years as originally proposed.

The price VeriSign charges registrars for .com domains would rise from $6 to $7.86, with higher fees likely to be passed on to consumers, according to BulkRegister.

BulkRegister's analysis of the potential financial impact of the deal suggests that the original agreement would have generated $3.43bn in potential cumulative revenues for VeriSign by 2012, as compared to $3.29bn under the current revised terms.

The revised agreement also gives VeriSign unprecedented control of the .com registry by allowing it to automatically renew its management of the registry in 2012 without first going through a competitive bidding process.

"The proposed agreement between Icann and VeriSign is fundamentally flawed," said Eric Rice, general manager of BulkRegister.

"This deal will give one company the ability to raise prices for the most popular domain extension without any industry review or justification.

"It also automatically extends VeriSign's control of the internet registry beyond 2012 without any competitive bidding process whatsoever."

BulkRegister is one of eight registrars that recently signed an open letter to the Icann board outlining numerous negative ramifications of the proposed agreement and settlement.

The letter was also signed by Network Solutions, Tucows, Register.com, GoDaddy, Schlund +, Intercosmos Media Group and Melbourne IT.