Nominet Slashes Domain Name Fees.

Nominet Ltd, the UK's internet domain name registry, yesterday slashed its wholesale registration fees for .co.uk, .org.uk and .net.uk by 75% due to the massive growth in domain name registration. Nominet, a non-profit organization established two years ago to look after the UK's NIC (network information center), will cut the price it charges to its 1,000 members from 20 pounds ($32) to 5 pounds ($8) for two years registration.

The company has found that it is registering almost 30,000 domain names a month, up from 8,000 this time last year and has had to take on extra staff to deal with the demand. Nominet will continue to charge 80 pounds ($127) to users wishing to register direct with the company, which represents about 5% of the total market for registrations. The firm now also requires prepayment, although a spokesperson denied this was due to people speculatively reserving domains without wishing to pay up.