Re: [wg-c] breaking up (names) is hard to do

[John Charles Broomfield <jbroom@manta.outremer.com>]

> Kevin J. Connolly wrote:
> > (B)  A registry is only a monopoly within the context of its TLD.  Inter-registry
> > competition is a realistic possibility.
> I agree. I even am willing to entertain the possibility <gasp> thatcompeting
> registries could rebid gTLDs away from each other.

WOW! At last! :-)

> > And that's what this has to do with new
> > GTLDs.  Either we bring down the price of SLD registrations, or we will not
> > have succeeded in introducing competition into the marketplace.
> 
> That could be one dimension. But the price of a domain name is not a very important
> part of having an Internet presence, relative to all the other costs. That's why
> Ambler is not a lunatic for suggesting that competition may quite possibly bid prices
> up rather than down.Many new registries may offer special features et al and be more
> expensive.
> Certainly the aftermarket for domain names is bidding the prices up. In an expanded
> name space, the premium value of dot com would erode, but domain naming could become
> a part of broader innovations. Competition should increase value, not necessarily
> decrease price.
> 
> BOTTOM LINE: We need lots of competing registries. Some of them need to be
> commercial, for profit in character. As long as there are non-profits available, why
> would anyone complain?

I can understand the concept of a non-profit registry operator (as in the
case of nominet or the denic), but actually I believe that the market for
registry operators would be better served with competing for profit registry
operators. The TLD however should be a concept of non-profit cost recovery
operation, where it is ICANN that is the "owner" of the TLD and as such will
want to tender out the operations in the best possible manner.
If there is only ONE TLD, then it may be more convenient to only have ONE
registry operator and have it as a non-profit completely stream-lined, so as
to avoid conflicts of interest (nominet, denic), even so, in many cases
where this is only the one resource (garbage collection), it is also
tendered out... 

Yours, John Broomfield.