About Tucows

Tucows Inc. provides simple useful services that help people unlock the power of the Internet. The company provides the U.S. consumers and small businesses with high-speed fixed Internet access in selected towns. The company also offers platform services, which provide solutions to support Communication Service Providers (CSPs), including subscription and billing management, network orchestration and provisioning, individual developer tools, and other professional services. The company is also a global distributor of Internet services, including domain name registration, digital certificates, and email. It provides these services primarily through a global Internet-based distribution network of Internet Service Providers, web hosting companies and other providers of Internet services to end-users. Segments The company operates through three segments: Ting, Wavelo and Tucows Domains. Ting Ting and its wholly owned subsidiaries – Cedar (Cedar Holdings Group, Incorporated) and Simply Bits (Simply Bits, LLC) includes the provision of high-speed Internet access services to select towns throughout the United States, with further expansion underway to both new and existing markets. The company’s primary sales channel is through the Ting website. The primary focus of this segment is to provide reliable Fiber and Fixed Wireless Internet services to consumer and business customers. As of December 31, 2022, Ting Internet had access to 96,000 owned infrastructure serviceable addresses; 20,000 partner infrastructure serviceable addresses; and 35,000 active accounts under its management. Wavelo Wavelo includes the provision of full-service platforms and professional services providing a variety of solutions that support Communication Services Providers (CSPs), including subscription and billing management, network orchestration and provisioning, and individual developer tools. Wavelo's focus is to provide accessible telecom software to CSPs globally, minimizing network and technical barriers and improving internet access worldwide. Wavelo's suite of flexible, cloud-based software simplifies the management of mobile and internet network access, enabling CSPs to better utilize their existing infrastructure, focus on customer experience and scale their businesses faster. Wavelo launched as a proven asset for CSPs, with DISH Wireless LLC (DISH) using Wavelo’s Mobile Network Operating System (MONOS) software to drive additional value within its Digital Operator Platform since 2021. More recently, Ting Internet has also integrated Wavelo’s Internet Service Operating System (ISOS) and Subscriber Management (SM) software to enable faster subscriber growth and footprint expansion. The Wavelo segment also includes the Platypus brand and platform, the company’s legacy billing solution for internet service providers (each an ‘ISP’ and collectively, ‘ISPs’), that was previously reported under the Ting segment. Wavelo revenues from MONOS, ISOS, SM and professional services are all generated in the U.S. and the company’s customer agreements have set contract lengths with the underlying CSP. Similarly, Platypus revenues are largely generated in the U.S., with a small portion earned in Canada and other countries. Tucows Domains Tucows Domains includes wholesale and retail domain name registration services, as well as value added services derived through the company’s OpenSRS, eNom, Ascio, EPAG and Hover brands. The company earns revenues primarily from the registration fees charged to resellers in connection with new, renewed and transferred domain name registrations. In addition, the company earns revenues from the sale of retail domain name registration and email services to individuals and small businesses. Tucows Domains revenues are attributed to the country in which the contract originates, which is primarily in Canada and the U.S. for OpenSRS and eNom brands. Ascio domain services contracts and EPAG agreements primarily originate in Europe. The company’s primary distribution channel is a global network of approximately 35,000 resellers that operate in over 150 countries and who typically provide their customers, the end-users of Internet-based services, with solutions for establishing and maintaining an online presence. The company’s primary focus is serving the needs of this network of resellers by providing the broadest portfolio of generic top level domain (gTLD) and the country code top-level domain options and related services, a white-label platform that facilitates the provisioning and management of domain names, a powerful Application Program Interface, easy-to-use interfaces, comprehensive management and reporting tools, and proactive and attentive customer service. The company’s services are integral to the solutions that its resellers deliver to their customers. The company provides ‘second tier’ support to its resellers by email, chat and phone in the event resellers experience issues or problems with its services. In addition, the company’s Network Operating Center proactively monitors all services and network infrastructure to address deficiencies before customer services are impacted. Wholesale, primarily branded as OpenSRS, eNom, EPAG and Ascio, derives revenue from its domain registration service and from providing value-added services. The OpenSRS, eNom, EPAG and Ascio domain services manage 24 million domain names under the Tucows, eNom, EPAG and Ascio ICANN registrar accreditations and for other registrars under their own accreditations. Value-added services include hosted email, which provides email delivery and webmail access to millions of mailboxes, Internet security services, Internet hosting, WHOIS privacy, publishing tools and other value-added services. All of these services are made available to end-users through a network of 35,000 web hosts, Internet services providers (ISPs) and other resellers around the world. In addition, the company derives revenue by monetizing domain names, which are near the end of their lifecycle through expiry auction sale. Retail, primarily the Hover and eNom portfolio of websites, including eNom and eNom Central, derive revenues from the sale of domain name registration and email services to individuals and small businesses. The company’s retail domain services also include its Personal Names Service – based on over 36,000 surname domains – that allows roughly two-thirds of Americans to purchase an email address based on their last name. The retail segment includes the sale of the rights to its portfolio of surname domains used in connection with the company’s RealNames email service, as well as its Exact Hosting Service, that provides Linux hosting services for individual and small business websites. Intellectual Property The company is well positioned in the wholesale domain registration and email markets due in part to its highly-recognized ‘Tucows’, ‘OpenSRS’, ‘Ascio’ and ‘eNom’ brands and the respect they confer on it as a defender of end-user rights and reseller-friendly approaches to doing business. The company was among the first group of 34 registrars to be accredited by ICANN in 1999, and it remains active in Internet governance issues. The company has registered the Tucows trademark in the United States, Canada and the European Union; and it registers additional service marks and trademarks as appropriate and where such protection is available. Trademarks, Trade Names and Service Marks Tucows, EPAG, Hover, OpenSRS, Platypus, Ting, eNom, Roam, Roam Mobility, Bulkregister, Ascio, Cedar, YummyNames, Simply Bits, and Wavelo are registered trademarks of the company or its subsidiaries. Customers Within the Ting segment, customers are a very broad mix of consumers, small businesses and corporations seeking high-speed Internet Services. Wavelo offers services to a small number of Communication Services Providers (CSPs) focused on the U.S. along with their biggest external customer being DISH Wireless L.L.C. (DISH) and internal customer being Ting, until such time the company expands these offerings to other MVNOs or MNOs. The majority of the customers to whom the company provides services as Tucows Domains are generally either web hosts or ISPs (internet service providers). A small number of customers are consultants and designers providing the company’s services to their business clients, or retail consumers registering a personal domain name. Seasonality The company’s experience shows that new domain registrations decline during the summer months and around the year-end holidays. Competition Ting The U.S. Broadband providers, such as AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and CenturyLink, who primarily compete with Ting Internet Services. Tucows Domains Retail-oriented domain registrars, such as GoDaddy and Web.com, who compete with the company’s Reseller customers in wholesale domain services and with Hover. Wholesale-oriented domain registrars, such as GoDaddy, who market services to resellers, such as the company’s customers. Wholesale Email Service providers, such as Google, Microsoft, Bluetie and MailTrust. Wavelo Traditional BSS/OSS providers, such as Amdocs, Netcracker, Ericsson, Optiva and Sonar Software, who primarily compete with Wavelo’s platforms and services. Government Regulations Ting The company’s Fiber Internet services are also subject to a number of regulations and commitments. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) frequently considers imposing new broadband-related regulations, such as those relating to an Open Internet. Tucows Corporate - Mobile Services The FCC and other federal, state and local, as well as international, governmental authorities have jurisdiction over the company’s business. Tucows Domains The company’s Tucows Domains segment is subject to regulation Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), federal and state laws in the U.S. and the laws of other jurisdictions in which the company does business. These include ICANN; Country Code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) Authorities; Communications Decency Act (CDA); Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA); and General Data Protection Regulation. History The company was incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1992. It was formerly known as Infonautics, Inc. and changed its name to Tucows Inc. in 2001.