Giver of Internet Addresses Finds It’s a Money Loser

WASHINGTON — Network Solutions Inc., the Herndon, Va., company that has a near monopoly on the business of assigning Internet “domains,” or addresses, said this week that it is losing money on the enterprise.

The company’s billing and collection systems have been overwhelmed by the volume of addresses registered amid the Internet’s rapid growth, Chief Executive Gabriel A. Battista said in an interview.

Critics, including would-be rivals, have assailed Network Solutions’ position of virtual monopoly in assigning domains, the parts of e-mail and World Wide Web addresses that end with such letters as .com for businesses and .gov for government agencies. They have also argued that the government put Network Solutions in a position to reap spectacular profits when it authorized the company to begin charging fees for each registration.

But this week, in its first comment on the registry’s profitability, the privately held company said it has lost money in each of the last two years.

Network Solutions has received payment for only 51.1% of the addresses registered between Sept. 14, 1995, when the government authorized it to charge fees, and Dec. 31, 1996, executives said.

Systems designed to handle 10,000 registrations a month have been flooded with many times that number--about 85,000 a month of late.

The company charges $100 to register new domains and $50 a year for subsequent renewals. Under an agreement with the National Science Foundation, which placed it in charge of the registry, the company is required to deposit 30% of the money in a fund for the improvement of the Internet.

As of Dec. 31, Network Solutions had collected $42.6 million in fees, the company said. Its 70% share of the revenue totaled $29.8 million.