By Felicity Ussher, 10 July 1998 06:42
NEWS Network Solutions has signed deals with six Scandinavian Internet service providers (ISPs) as the first stage in its international expansion program. Under the terms of the deal, the ISPs will receive guaranteed customer service when registering Web addresses ending in .com, .net, .org and .edu. But they are obliged to stay with the registrar even after the market opens to competition in October. The ISPs - TelePartner, Groene Verket, Primaerdata, Euronet, WinEasy and Spray Domain - can now promise customers a top-level domain name just 24 hours after receiving their applications. Network Solutions has provided each one with ID numbers to ensure their registrations have top priority. Matthias Falkendal, CEO at Spray Domain, said: "It used to take anything up to eight days to get one of these addresses for a customer." Other benefits of the service include bulk billing and news bulletins about rival clients. A spokeswoman for Network Solutions conceded that all the international partners had signed up for one or two years. She said more international partners will be announced next week. Prices for registering a Web address are expected to drop in October, when Network Solutions' exclusive contract with the National Science Foundation comes to an end, and the market opens to competition. Falkendal would not comment on whether registration fees for international partners are set at a fixed rate, or whether they will go down in line with market forces.
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