New Zealand registrar snapped up over Tasman

By ADAM GIFFORD

"A dingo stole my domain."

So said Joy Cottle, general manager of New Zealand internet registrar iserve, about the $2 million sale of domain name registrar Domainz to Australian company Melbourne IT.

While the sale price was welcomed by InternetNZ supporters, competing registrars shared Cottle's concerns that a big industry player was now in Australian hands.

Domainz, owned by incorporated society InternetNZ, had been the monopoly registrar for .nz internet names.

It was sold because InternetNZ moved to a shared registry system, and considered it would be a conflict of interest to own both the registry and a registrar.

It still is responsible for about 35,000 of the 130,000 names in the .nz space, which if they were all renewed at the current $55 plus GST would bring in about $2 million a year in revenue.

ASX-listed Melbourne IT used to be the monopoly registry and registrar for the com.au space, but now must compete with 18 other registrars in the .au market, meaning its dominant market share is being gradually whittled back.

It has just reported a first-half net profit of A$921,000 ($1031,000) for the half-year ended June 30, 2003, which was 42 per cent down on the previous year.

Richard Shearer, of New Plymouth-based registrar Freeparking.co.nz, said Melbourne IT's bid was within cooee of what some of the New Zealand bidders were offering.

"Given there was only a small premium offered by the offshore company, we think InternetNZ should have given more consideration to some of the local bids," Shearer said.

InternetNZ president Keith Davidson said the Australians offered about $350,000 more than the underbidder.

The competitors

About 40 registrars sell .nz domain names. The largest are:

Xtra - Telecom's internet service provider has the largest share of the market just from being part of the incumbent telco with huge marketing muscle. At $168 a year plus GST, its charges are the top of the range.

Domainz - Now Australian-owned, Domainz has about a quarter of the market and charges $55 plus GST per domain name

Freeparking.co.nz - New Plymouth-based Freeparking is associated with the Webfarm web hosting business. It charges $39.95 a year plus GST for domains.

Wellington company iserve has grown rapidly over the past year, and offers domains for $38 including GST.