RE: [ga] The Future of Domain Registry Pricing, if left uncapped

["Neuman, Jeff" <Jeff.Neuman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

George,

I think your analogy is not only inapplicable here, but also highly
inappropriate.  

I am not sure if you are making the analogy just to get people excited,
but the Common Short Code Registry and .BIZ are completely different
services.  About the only thing in common is that they are called
"registries."

FYI, NeuStar operates the Common Short Code Registry under an agreement
with the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association ("CTIA").
NeuStar does not set the price for common short codes (unlike your
statement below).  That is set by the CTIA.  The money funds not only
the registry operations, but also a number of key CTIA programs and
functions.  For more information on that, you can visit
www.uscommonshortcodes.com.  A copy of the contract between NeuStar and
the CTIA can also be obtained by looking at the public SEC filings
(under the stock ticker "NSR").

With respect to .BIZ, while it is true that there are no contractual
prohibitions in the new draft contracts on raising the pricing for .BIZ
domain names (other than providing 6 months notice to registrars), we
also operate in a real-world competitive market, where we are tying our
best to compete with the .com/.net registry operator that controls 85%
of the gTLD market and growing. Regardless of what you may believe, the
reality is that VeriSign controls pricing for the entire industry.

Although you insinuate that we could raise prices, do you honestly
believe that we could really get away with raising prices and not suffer
a huge loss in the demand for our services?  We operate in a real
economic market and not in a theoretical hypothetical world.  In other
words, do you really think .BIZ could get away with raising prices above
that for a .com domain name and survive?  We do not.  We believe that if
we were to raise prices without a corresponding increase in .com prices,
registrants would switch from .BIZ to .com or .net in a heartbeat.

I hope that sets some further context for the discussion as we move
forward.


Jeffrey J. Neuman, Esq. 
Sr. Director, Law, Advanced Services  & Business Development 

NeuStar, Inc. 



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of George Kirikos
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2006 11:46 AM
To: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ga] The Future of Domain Registry Pricing, if left uncapped

Hi folks,

If you want to get a sense of where domain name wholesale costs might
be heading if Neustar, Verisign et al are able to charge whatever they
want, we need only look at the pricing for Common Short Codes, today,
which Neustar runs:

http://www.usshortcodes.com/
http://www.usshortcodes.com/csc_obtain_a_csc.html

"Registering and leasing a CSC costs $1,000 per month for each
"Selected CSC" and $500 per month for each "Random CSC." THESE FEES ARE
NON-REFUNDABLE REGARDLESS OF WHETHER ANY WIRELESS CARRIER AGREES TO
ACTIVATE YOUR CSC. The Registry must receive payment in full for the
duration of the registration at the time your application is approved.
We offer Registration Terms of 3 months, 6 months and one year. Because
fees are due up front, if you register a Selected CSC for three months
the cost is $3000.00, and Random CSC for three months is $1500.00."

Of course, we also have the example of .tv, http://www.tv/ where some
names are six-figures+ per year as .tv. Naturally, .com names would be
priced at a huge premium to any equivalent .tv.

Sincerely,

George Kirikos
http://www.kirikos.com/