InternetNZ to up fees for .nz domains

InternetNZ has announced an increase to the cost of its domain fees as it looks to meet market demands over security requirements and co-ordination services.

The fee increase will see .nz wholesale domain fees change from $1.25 per month to $1.50 per month.

The increase in price will apply to newly created domain names as well as renewed domain names, InternetNZ says. The change will come in effect as of 1 June 2020.

InternetNZ is a non-profit organisation, and the home and guardian of .nz - it provides the infrastructure, security and support for the .nz domains.

The organisation uses the funding from the sale of .nz domain names to support the development of New Zealand's internet through policy, community grants, research and events.

In a statement, InternetNZ chief executive officer Jordan Carter said the change to the domain fees offers a modest but much needed update.

"Falling registrations are threatening our ability to offer the core security and co-ordination services, which our market demands. In order to sustainably offer those vital services long term, we have to increase our prices," he says.

Carter also said that InternetNZ now knows the real size of the local market.

"Since we started it has been all about growth. We can now see how big our market really is and with this change, maintain our organisation at the right size to service that market, as well as delivering on our public good commitments," he explains.

The price change was recommended in a 2019 pricing review and was approved at the most recent InternetNZ council meeting, the organisations says.

In October last year, InternetNZ began looking for a .nz registry replacement. The registry replacement process would essentially update the technology at the heart of the .nz domain name space, as the company plans to replace the registry with a new, modern and secure system with a potential of further growth,

"This is an important project that will improve New Zealand's domain name system - reinforcing its reliability and security. It's an investment in keeping the core technologies behind .nz up to date. We will be taking a careful and thorough approach to this project," Carter said at the time.

The Shared Registry System is the core technology system for the operation of the .nz registry. It was originally developed in 2002, and has significantly evolved since that time. It has been operated in-house by InternetNZ since 2014.