The tussle over .net domains has begun
Five companies officially announced this week their bids to win the contract to operate the master database for .net domains, a job currently performed by VeriSign.
VeriSign is trying to convince the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to renew its contract, which expires June 30. In addition to VeriSign, the other bidders are Frankfurt-based DENIC, which handles Germany's .de domain names; NeuLevel, which oversees .us and .biz domains; Afilias, which runs .info; and Core++, a global consortium of domain registrars, registry operators and telecommunications and networking companies.
Currently, VeriSign collects $6 for each .com and .net domain, which effectively imposes a price floor for those top-level domains. If ICANN grants a contract to a company that charges less for .net this time around, prices for those domains likely would fall. (VeriSign's contract to operate the master registry for .com expires in November 2007.)
CNET News.com spoke with Sabine Dolderer, a director of DENIC, while she was in Washington, D.C., and again in a follow-up phone conversation. They discussed ICANN, VeriSign and the .net competition process.
