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Username: Wilton 1
Date/Time: Mon, October 23, 2000 at 9:59 PM GMT
Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer V5.0 using Windows 98
Score: 5
Subject: co-op suffix

Message: 		 

 
       
      On behalf of the 17,691 members of Eastern Iowa Light & Power Cooperative, I am writing to urge the Internet Corporate for Assigned Names (ICANN) to approve the proposal for a .co-op top-level domain.  The National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) and Poptel are proposing .co-op with the full endorsement of the International Cooperative Alliance.

Eastern Iowa Light and Power Cooperative was formed in 1935 to serve the electric needs of rural consumers in 12 counties in the eastern part of Iowa.  In addition to providing reliable, cost-efficient electric energy to our 17,691 members, we are active in economic development activities within our general service area and participate in numerous community services and activities.  The .co-op designation would be very beneficial in linking our activities with other cooperative businesses.

As a rual, consumer-owned electric cooperative, Eastern Iowa works hard to provide our member-consumers with the best service possible.  We follow the International Cooperative Alliance cooperative principles, such as member ownership and control.  That makes ourjob more challanging than investor-owned businesses, but it has also earned us the trust of the member-consumers we serve.

As consumers become increasingly cynical about the constant ebb and flow of new and defunct e-businesses, it's critical that cooperative businesses have an opportunity to identify themselves to consumers andothers who prefer to do business with us.  While many cooperatives use .com and .org, neither accurately characterizes co-ops to Internet users.  Consumers need a way to find the businesses they trust on the Internet.  The .co-op TLD will help do that.

Though Eastern Iowa provides electric service to predominately rural member consumers, co-ops operate in virtually all industries, in 100 countries, and in both rural and urban areas; there are 750,000 cooperatives worldwide with 725 million members.  As a result, the .co-op TLD will apply to a broad range of businesses across the globe.

I urge you to move quickly to approve .co-op.

Sincerely,
Melvin D. Nicholas, CEO
Eastern Iowa Light & Power Cooperative


 

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