The cost of .VE domain names to registrars jumped in price by over 50 per cent on 5 January and is set to jump in price again even further in coming days in rises that will see the prices charged to registrars almost double.
In an announcement from the National Telecom Commission of Venezuela earlier this month, the government agency announced the fee will now be set in 1 UT (“Unidad Tributaria” or “Tax Unit”), and will no longer be Bs. 25. Currently 1 UT is equivalent to Bs. 65, but this will rise in coming days to close to Bs. 80, to compensate for inflation (26.90% in 2010 in Venezuela). To make matters more complex, starting this year, the applicable exchange rate for US dollars will hike from former Bs2.60 to new Bs4,30.
According to the announcement forwarded by Latin TLD, this means that when expressed in US dollars, the registrar fee has increased from US$9.64 to US$15,12 (up 57%), effective 5 January, and will further increase to US$18.60, an increase of approximately 93 per cent, when the new value for the UT is fixed in the coming days by Venezuelan Tax Authorities.
To register your .VE domain name, check out America Registry here.
In 2017 there were 48,000 additional domain names registered in the Venezuelan ccTLD according to announcement from the telecommunications regulator La Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Conatel).