Test Phase to Continue on Expanded Registrars for Web Domain Names

The Department of Commerce and Network Solutions Inc. agreed last week to continue testing a system that allows multiple companies to register Internet domain names until Sept. 11 and will let additional would-be registrars join in the test.

The testing phase was supposed to end Friday, to be followed by open competition in the domain-name registration business between NSI and 57 other companies that have been accredited by the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN. Competition is expected to reduce the price of registering a domain name and improve customer service.

But before that can happen, the Commerce Department and NSI must agree on some key issues. For instance, Herndon, Va.-based Network Solutions said it has spent $15 million to develop a database of domain names that it will share with its competitors. The company and the Commerce Department are still negotiating the size of a fee the company may charge other registrars for operating the database.

Progress has been made on other issues. NSI agreed to share domain name registration data with other companies that want to use it to create commercial services. The company previously said it owned the data it has collected since it began registering domain names under an exclusive government contract in 1993, and would not share it with competitors, as the Commerce Department and ICANN insisted.

“We have been engaged in extremely productive negotiations with NSI and ICANN,” said Andrew Pincus, general counsel for the Commerce Department. “There are significant issues yet to be resolved, but we are optimistic.”

Although ICANN is anxious to move beyond the testing phase, the decision to allow more companies to compete with Network Solutions during the testing phase is “a significant step forward,” ICANN Senior Advisor Andrew McLaughlin said.