I'm still trying to get the time to re-read auDA's RFT for the Registry
Operation, but from my initial reading of part two, the
http://dnsaction.terminus.net.au/ web site has the auDA fees wrong.

The charges appear to be:

* A once-off set-up fee of $15,000.
* An annual fee which is based on a sliding scale, but which is not more
than $1.60 per domain name in the worst case.
* A domain name fee of $11 for each domain name registration or renewal
each two years (i.e. $5.50 per year).

So by my understanding the recurrent costs are a maximum of $7.10 per
year per domain name (actually $6.50 p.a. if there's less than 15,000
names in the 2LD) , paid by Registry operators to auDA to enable it to
carry out its role as regulatory authority.

The costs of operating a regulatory authority, while not fixed, would
not be expected to rise in proportion with the increase in domain name
registrations,  So over time the auDA's recurrent fees should reduce as
its costs are gradually spread across a wider base of domain name users.
I believe .au is growing at somewhere around 20% - 25% per year.



Here's a thought - if the registry is run by volunteers at no cost and
the recurring fees are only $6.50 per domain name, why not charge NFPs
with resources $100 p.a. and use that money to subsidise the NFPs
without resources.  The difficulty is that there would need to some
method of identifying the NFPs with resources, and the morality of
expecting a subsidy for all NFPs appears to be based on the pretence
that NFPs with substantial resources don't exist.



Regards, Mark, - who still finds quite offensive the concept that SME's
in com.au should be asked to subsidise various entities (example:
asfa.asn.au) which have substantial resources.


  
Mark Hughes
Effective Business Applications Pty Ltd
effectivebusiness§pplications.com.au
+61 4 1374 3959
www.pplications.com.au

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