RegistryPro, the exclusive operator of the .PRO TLD, announced it will be decreasing wholesale pricing to accredited registrars by over 25 per cent for 2011. The decision stems from a historic growth in the number of registered .PRO names in 2010, which were up 125 per cent from 2009.
While statistics are not released by RegistryPro, they say the rapid growth in .PRO registrations began in 2008 when certification requirements were eased to include more professions and geographies. During the first month after this change, registrations jumped five-fold. Ongoing promotion of the accessibility of .PRO to a wider group of businesses, organisations and individuals continued to boost the total registrations.
In recognition of the success of .PRO, RegistryPro is decreasing the wholesale registration price to be in line with Verisign’s .COM pricing. This is not the first price decrease for .PRO. Since 2007, the annual price to registrars has been reduced several times as the total registrations volume went up.
âWe believe that registries have an obligation to pass along cost efficiencies to customers as volumes increase,â says Lucas Roh, CEO of RegistryPro. âWe strongly believe .PRO is a great name with broad global appeal. With this price reduction, we will able to make it even more widely accessible to customersâ
Even with this significant increase in registrations, RegistryPro reports that .PRO still has a great availability of names. Adding to the increased interest in .PRO, the registry is currently in the process of releasing its one- two- and three-character names for the first time to the general public. In the first auction that is currently ongoing, the registry is releasing a set of eleven three-character names including TEA.PRO, ASK.PRO, and DOG.PRO.