Re: [gnso-consumercci-dt] CCI: European Commission requests data on competition -- should we include these measures in CCI advice?

[Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl@xxxxxxx>]

Hello Tobias,

thank you for the summary.

As a note, some of these figures are already collected by Verisign's
very useful and interesting Domain Name Industry Brief, which I highly
recommend reading:
http://www.verisigninc.com/en_US/why-verisign/research-trends/domain-name-industry-brief/index.xhtml

I am sorry not to have pointed you all to this earlier, but it just
didn't click in my mind & I figured that members of this group might
have already been reading this regularly.

Warmest regards,

Olivier


On 06/02/2012 15:50, Tobias Mahler wrote :
> Dear all,
>
> As mentioned in the last CCI call, the European Commission recently
> sent a letter to ICANN requesting specific information about
> competition in the domain name market. Although this request primarily
> focuses on vertical integration issues, the proposed measures may
> also, in my opinion, be used to assess competition more generally in
> the context of new gTLDs. The EC asks for "recent figures on
> competition", based on measures described as follows:
>
> "(1) *recent figures on competition at **registry *and registrar
> *level*, in particular
>     (i) the total number of currently active registries and registrars
> accredited by ICANN,
>     (ii) the total number of domain name registrations up to now,
>     (iii) the distribution of domain name registrations by gTLD in
> terms of numbers and percentages, and
>     (iv) the share of the twenty largest registrars of the total
> number of domain name registrations (see paragraphs 14 and 15 of our
> non-paper);"
>
> See the letter:
> http://news.dot-nxt.com/sites/news.dot-nxt.com/files/de-graaf-mccallum-to-beckstrom-crocker-19jan12-en.pdf
>
> *Comparison with our criteria*
> -------------------------------------------
> We already cover (i) above, but we have so far not directly included
> (ii-iii) . The latter can presumably be used to calculate market
> share, in order to assess whether there are dominant actors (rule of
> thumb >40 % market share).
>
>
> *Should market share of gTLD registries be included in CCI advice?*
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Market share is often used as indicator of effective competition. If
> we include these measures now, we may pre-empt possible future
> criticism from competition authorities (through the GAC).
>
> I am aware of the possibility that the new gTLD program might not be
> able to significantly alter the existing market share (and potential
> dominance) of some market actors. However, I think we should
> distinguish clearly between our proposed measures and the realistic
> 3-year targets. Thus, in my view it would be best to include market
> share, but to be very realistic with respect to what can be achieved
> by the new gTLD program in a 3-years time frame.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Tobias
>
> --
> Tobias Mahler, PhD
> Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law (NRCCL)
> Department of Private Law, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo
> http://folk.uio.no/tobiasm/
> Phone (office) +47 2285 0087
>
>
>  

-- 
Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD
http://www.gih.com/ocl.html