Afilias has won the contract to run the backend registry services for a number of country code domain extensions. The new contract will see Afilias handling the technical side of .io, .ac and .sh which are currently run in-house by The Internet Computer Bureau.
In the past few years the .io ccTLD has become popular with startups as an alternative to .com.
Details of the deal and a timeline of when Afilias will takeover the backend services haven’t been released.
Transitioning the existing domain names over to the Afilias registry complex will require a certain degree of co-ordination with registrars, but from the registry’s perspective this should be seen as a positive move, as they’ll have access to more registrars than before.
The .IO, .AC, and .SH contract will be a nice cash cow for Afilias. Mainly because of .IO domains being popular among start-ups and registrars charge $100+ per year for them.
Adam
That will depend on the particulars of the contractual arrangement. Afilias has not acquired the extensions, but has got the contract to provide the backend registry services. While there probably is a per domain fee of some kind it won’t be impacted by prices that registrars charge.
Michele
True but it will be a lucrative contract. 🙂
This change should help.