Melbourne IT accused of foul play - News

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Melbourne IT accused of foul play

By Megan McAuliffe, ZDNet Australia
July 13, 2001
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/soa/Melbourne-IT-accused-of-foul-play/0,139023165,120238698,00.htm

An .au channel partner of Melbourne IT has accused the wholesale registrar for foul play leading up to the introduction of competition in the Australian domain name market.

-It appears that Melbourne IT is competing with us on a retail basis and selling domain names at 50 percent less," Internet Name Group general manager Mark Spektor said.

Currently, Melbourne IT acts as a wholesale provider, selling domain names from its .au database to its 500 channel partners, which then on-sell to the end user.

The board of the Australian Domain Name Authority (auDA) approved the final report for the introduction of competition in the domain name space. Part of the model is to introduce an open tender process for the .au domain name database, currently controlled by Melbourne IT.

auDA is aiming to implement the Panel's recommendations by the end of the year.

"The model will provide certainty for industry and consumers alike, by ensuring a level playing field and setting accepted standards of behaviour," auDA CEO Chris Disppain said in a statement.

According to Spektor, in the lead up to the introduction of competition, Melbourne IT has been selling domain names direct to the end user, acting as a retailer rather than a wholesaler.

-It's not giving the channel partners an opportunity to compete in the marketplace. If they charge a lesser price to the retail chains, we are being forced to compete with these prices, but we have to buy the names from them at wholesale prices,

-They are using their power to attract potential clients," Spektor said.

Spektor says Melbourne IT is abusing its position as sole registry by sending out -so called" consumer alerts, informing customers of the true price without mark-up of purchasing a .com.au domain name.

-But they are really just making trouble for their channel partners and promoting their own services. That's an unfair abuse of their monopoly status," he said.