On Sat, 8 Jun 2002 13:27:10 +1000, Marty Drill  - Nexsta wrote:

> Your assertion that there is not a lot of money in selling domain names
> in Australia is correct. With 10 players in the market, the competition
> will be high and the margins low.  With roughly 250,000 .com.au names
> registered at the moment and a total of up to 50,000 other au names;
> conservatively you may suggest the numbers don't add up.

Congratulations on being appointed a provisionally accredited registrar.  I
wish you well in the new environment :)

In relation to your first point, AusRegistry has already declared that they
will market domain names across the board fairly vigorously to assist
registrars.  It is very unlikely, imo, that the total numbers will stay low.
It would be reasonable, in my view, to expect at least a couple of million
domain names in a population of nearly 20 million people and an untold number
of corporations, charities and other entities.

At present, many smaller organisations simply use their own ISP's services or,
sometimes, a cheap global domain name.  I'd say with a lower price the market
share in Australia will grow considerably.  One growth area is that of
personal domain names.

The current price of A$140 for com.au and net.au is way too high, especially
if you have to register a business name first, and I'd expect the new regime
to start with a price of $99 including GST and go lower as the competition
bites deeper.

Of course, that's my own personal view.

Best of luck !!

Regards
Patrick Corliss
_________________________________________________________
I'm on the Board of auDA (the .au country code).  Anything I write is my
own personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of any body
with which I am associated.  Please also note IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer).