FINAL VERSION TO BE SUBMITTED IF RATIFIED
The final version to be submitted, if the draft is ratified, will be placed here by upon completion of the vote.
FINAL DRAFT VERSION TO BE VOTED UPON BY THE ALAC
The final draft version to be voted upon by the ALAC will be placed here before the vote is to begin.
FIRST DRAFT SUBMITTED
The first draft submitted will be placed here before the call for comments begins.
1 Comment
Ariel Liang
Analysis by Maureen Hilyard
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Summary of the report on the Phase 1 Assessment of the Competitive Effects Associated with the New gTLD Programme.
The purpose of this initial Phase 1 Assessment report was to establish a baseline description of metrics that can be used to assess the competitive conditions in the marketplace for domain names. A subsequent Phase II Assessment will provide a deeper analysis of the competitive effects associated with the new gTLD programme.
The report compared the progress of the 428 new gTLDs with the 22 legacy TLDs in existence, 18 months following the date of the delegation of the first new gTLDs. In brief it was found that legacy TLDs, despite having historical restrictions on pricing whereas new gTLDs don’t, still account for the majority of domain names. Some operators are marketing new gTLDs on the assumption that they will be valued more than legacy TLDs so that there is a greater dispersion of their wholesale prices. The main competition comes about due to the add-on services provided by registrars such as email and web-hosting as well as the cost of registering a domain name. There is quite some variation among registrars as to the cost of these services.
While the expansion of new gTLDS has created a market with hundreds of TLD options for consumers, these TLDs vary substantially in priced. Analyses of the findings revealed:
Comment: While this report gives an interesting initial overview of the first 18 months of the competitive environment of the new gTLD programme, a further year or two will give a better indication of registration trends and prices especially with regards to the historical restriction on pricing of legacy TLDs, and to further assess public demand and its impact on pricing.