For Fee Discount from ICANN — DotAsia Asks

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, right now 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 right now has regarding 200,000 domain names registered, so it is requesting its annual variable fees to be reduced from regarding $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.