DotAsia joins the sTLD fee reduction bandwagon.
DotAsia Organisation Ltd., which operates the .asia top level domain name, has requested that ICANN lower the fees DotAsia pays to ICANN.
DotAsia, a non-profit organization, currently pays a variable fee of 75 cents per domain name registered. It is requesting a 33% decrease to 50 cents per domain name.
In requesting the fee reduction, DotAsia writes:
A lower fee would enable DotAsia to invest further into meaningful community projects as well as to extend the awareness and adoption of the .ASIA domain. A lower fee from ICANN will also support a more level playing field, that would help DotAsia’s development and promote the equitable and inclusive development of the Asian economies, especially the developing and disadvantaged. The suggested amendment would also bring the fees into line with other gTLDs.
.Asia currently has about 200,000 domain names registered, so it is requesting its annual variable fees to be reduced from about $150,000 to $100,000.
The request for lower fees might be due to .Asia coming in at the low end of its projections. When it applied for .Asia, DotAsia stated:
Our target demand projection is based on a 5% penetration (335,600 domains) rate in the first year, growing to 10% by Year 3 and assumes a 10% annual growth of the overall market. The Low-Demand projection is based on a 3% penetration (201,500 domains) rate, growing to 5% in Year 3, while the High-Demand projection is based on a 7% penetration (489,000 domains) rate, growing to 16%.
ICANN recently reduced the registry fee for .Pro when it renewed the .Pro registry agreement.
Jim Fleming says
The FREE domains available via the new DNS
and Microsoft Windows PNRP may take their
toll on the monetized domain market.
Most of the cost of a domain name is the
collection of the fee. It is similar to Union
Dues paying Union Bosses to collect Union Dues.
There are many other ways to obtain an IP
address (Locator and/or ID). The lawyers
seemed to mostly gravitate to DNS and all
the hooks that produce fess, taxes, etc.
Chris says
And who buys .asia domains?
Sounds like DotAsia is feeling the squeeze.
Juanita says
Who have .asia?
I don’t. 🙂