RE: [gnso-vi-feb10] Notice: VI Call Thursday with the Economists Salop/Wright at 20:UTC

[Milton L Mueller <mueller@xxxxxxx>]

Good question, Tom

> -----Original Message-----
> 
> The questions I have for the group are:
> 
> 1. are we limited to considering harm only to consumers?

Fundamentally, Yes. By that I mean that it is not ICANN's remit or legitimate 
purpose to protect or preserve the profits of any particular business. Its task 
is the public interest.

> 2. should ICANN be concerned about harm to existing or future
> registrars?

No, if by "harm" you simply mean removing protections or artificial market 
restrictions whose only purpose is to retain the economic viability of 
companies that would not otherwise be competitive. 

> 3. Does ICANN want to continue to encourage new registrars to enter the
> marketplace?  Or is it done?

ICANN should be concerned about the contestability and competitiveness of the 
market, not with the number of registrars 

> 4. Is there any harm to consumers if there are a lot fewer registrars
> than today?

Again, the issue is the degree of effective competition, not the number of 
registrars. 
If we can have intensive, efficiency-producing competition with a dozen 
registrars or 1200 registrars doesn't really matter, as long as the competitive 
process is working efficiently.

> 5. what if there were fewer registrars than gtld's.  Is this a healthy
> marketplace for consumers?

See answers to #3 and #4