Domain-Name Rivalry Is Postponed Again

For the fourth time, the Commerce Department has delayed the introduction of full-scale competition in the Internet domain-name registration business. It also gave Network Solutions Inc. until Sept. 30 to continue testing a technical system that allows multiple companies to register domain names ending in .com, .net and .org. A total of 10 registrars are participating in the test, and several dozen more are eligible to join them.

Commerce Department general counsel Andrew Pincus said competition with Herndon, Va.-based Network Solutions has increased significantly since Aug. 6, when all registrars that have been accredited by the nonprofit Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers were allowed to join the test.

But Commerce, Network Solutions and ICANN are still negotiating the details of how the domain-name system will be managed once NSI’s government contract officially ends. It was originally scheduled to end June 24.

“NSI, ICANN and the Department of Commerce have made great progress in resolving their differences, and the end of those discussions is in sight,” Pincus said. “This additional extension should allow us to bring them to conclusion.”