VeriSign may relinquish control of .org addresses by the end of next year to keep the right to manage .com, the firm said today.

In exchange for keeping lucrative rights to manage .com names until at least 2007, the firm will surrender control over .org by 2002 and .net by 2006.

VeriSign receives a percentage of all fees charged by registering companies, a business it operates in and had been compelled to give up by 2003 under the terms of its original deal with internet domain name authority, Icann.

Under the proposed deal, yet to be ratified by Icann or the US government, the .org name will be reserved for use by non-profit organisations, run by a not-for-profit group supported by an endowment by VeriSign.

Stratton Sclavos, president and chief executive at VeriSign, said: "Our initial co-operative agreements with Icann have accomplished what they set out to do -provide competition and consumer choice for domain name registration."

"We believe the terms of our new proposed agreements continue to support these positive market dynamics," he added, "while ensuring the long-term stability and openness of the internet addressing system."