Dears, According to this new agreement, Verisign will be allowed to increase the wholesale price to registrars for .COM domains every year for 8 out of the next 10 years, and the increases don’t stop there. This will mean that .COM wholesale domain prices can grow by more than 70% over and above current prices over the next decade. The contract also allows for other price increases, which could drive prices up further, ultimately making .COM domains less accessible and more expensive for everybody. Alongside these contract changes, Verisign agreed to pay ICANN an additional $20 million dollars over five years to support ICANN's domain name system initiatives, without any clarity about how ICANN will spend the money, or who will ensure that the funds are properly spent on domain infrastructure. Not least, Verisign will also be able to operate as a domain registrar. In other words, the company that controls almost 80% of the registrar pricing for domain names will compete directly with all domain registrars, maximizing its control of domain name pricing. This harms competition, choice, and domain name services. I would like to know how ICANN is guaranteeing that the best economic practices are adopted and that consumers interests are protected. Best regards, -- Erick F. Alves PhD Fellow, Department of Electric Power Engineering Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway Mobile +47 932 61 518 <https://www.ntnu.edu/employees/erick.f.alves> https://www.ntnu.edu/employees/erick.f.alves