ICANN has made it clear that any new domain registry that is experiencing financial difficulties will not receive reduced registration fees. As reported, in November, CEO of Who’s Who Registry John McCabe wrote to ICANN management. He explained that delays in paying the fee (which could result in the company losing its .WHOSWHO domain name soon) are partly because $25,000 a year is too much for small companies. McCabe proposed reducing this amount.
A reply to McCabe’s request was published on the official ICANN website. The letter is signed by ICANN registry services director Russ Weinstein. The document says that the corporation sympathizes with the financial challenges that some new gTLD registry operators may be facing in the early periods of new businesses. “New gTLD operators face a challenging task of building consumer awareness and this may take significant time and effort,” he wrote.
But he stressed that the $25,000 annual fee was well known before applying, and had been subject to numerous rounds of public comment before the Applicant Guidebook was finalized. Weinstein concludes his letter by pointing out that all new gTLD registries are free to terminate their contracts for any reason at any time.
