ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers that is responsible for managing global domain names, reached an agreement with Verisign. It signed a contract every six years and could renew it when it expires. The price of the domain name will not increase in the first two years of the contract, and the price of .COM will increase by 7% every year for the next four years.
Starting from September 1 this year, the price of COM domain names will increase again based on last year's price adjustment, from the original $9.59/year to $10.26/year. Note that this is the wholesale price, that is, for domain name registrars. The price may be higher when actual users register.
VeriSign's contract expires this year and will be automatically renewed in accordance with the original terms if there are no accidents, that is, there will be no price increase for COM domain names in 2025 and 2026, and prices will continue to increase by 7% every year starting from 2027.
As the registry of COM domain names, VeriSign strictly controls the wholesale price of COM domain names. After all, this is the most popular domain name on the Internet and an important source of revenue for VeriSign. Of course, this kind of agreement has also caused dissatisfaction with US regulatory agencies.
The Chairman of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Communications and Technology Subcommittee, and the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee have sent letters (PDF) to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration NTIA requesting the agency to provide more information on the agreement.
These lawmakers said that NTIA is both an advisor to ICANN and a party to the cooperation agreement, and has the responsibility to support the domain name system that promotes the development of online commerce. Both individual consumers and businesses rely on the responsible management of COM domain names. Monopoly factors and high domain name prices will inhibit the ability of COM registrants to conduct business online.
NTIA needs to answer five questions raised by these lawmakers about the agreement, including the status of consultations with the U.S. Department of Justice and whether it has commissioned market research studies.
However, unless the US government can intervene in the agreement signed between VeriSign, NTIA and ICANN, the original contract will still be renewed and the price will continue to increase. If the renewal of this contract can be prevented, it may be necessary to prevent the continued price increase of COM domain names in the next few years.