10. Revenue

Significant accounting policy

The Company’s revenues are derived from (a) the provisioning of retail fiber Internet services through Ting, (b) the CSP solutions and professional services through Wavelo; and from (c) domain name registration contracts, other domain related value-added services, domain sale contracts, and other advertising revenue through Tucows Domains Services. Certain revenues are disclosed under Corporate and all other as they are considered non-core business activities including retail mobile services, Transition Services Agreement ("TSA") revenue and eliminations of intercompany revenue. Amounts received in advance of meeting the revenue recognition criteria described below are recorded as contract liabilities. All products are generally sold without the right of return or refund.

Revenue is measured based on the consideration specified in a contract with a customer and excludes any sales incentives and amounts collected on behalf of third parties. The Company recognizes revenue when it satisfies a performance obligation by transferring control over a product or service to a customer.

Nature of goods and services

The following is a description of principal activities – separated by reportable segments – from which the Company generates its revenue. For more detailed information about reportable segments, see Note 13 – Segment Reporting.

The Company generates Ting revenues primarily through the provisioning of fixed high-speed Internet access, Ting Internet.

Ting Internet contracts provide customers Internet access at their home or business through the installation and use of our fiber optic network. Ting Internet contracts are generally prepaid and grant customers with unlimited bandwidth based on a fixed price per month basis. Because consideration is collected before the service period, revenue is initially deferred and recognized as the Company performs its obligation to provide Internet access. Though the Company does not consider the installation of fixed Internet access to be a distinct performance obligation, the fees related to installation are immaterial and therefore revenue is recognized as billed.

Ting Internet access services are primarily contracted through the Ting website, for one month at a time and contain no commitment to renew the contract following each customer’s monthly billing cycle. The Company’s billing cycle for all Ting Internet customers is computed based on the customer’s activation date. In addition, revenue from sale of internet hardware to subscribers is recognized when control transfers, which occurs upon shipment. Incentive marketing credits given to customers are recorded as a reduction of revenue.

In those cases, where payment is not received at the time of sale, revenue is not recognized at contract inception unless the collection of the related accounts receivable is reasonably assured. The Company records expected refunds, rebates and credit card charge-backs as a reduction of revenues at the time of the sale based on historical experiences and current expectations.

The Company generates Wavelo revenues by providing billing and provisioning platform services to CSPs to whom we also provide other professional services. 

Platform service agreements contain both platform services and professional services. Platform services offer a variety of solutions that support CSPs, including subscription and billing management, network orchestration and provisioning, and individual developer tools through a single, cloud-based service. Professional services provided under platform service arrangements can include implementation, training, consulting or software development/modification services. Platform services and professional services are considered to be separate performance obligations.

Consideration under platform service arrangements includes both a variable component that changes each month depending on the number of subscribers hosted on the platform, as well as a fixed component of platform payments and credits. 

Platform payments and associated credits are allocated between the platform services and professional services performance obligations by estimating the standalone selling price (“SSP”) of each performance obligation.

The Company estimates the SSP of professional services based on observable standalone sales. The SSP of platform services is derived using the residual approach by estimating the total contract consideration and subtracting the SSP of professional services. 

Each month of providing access to the platform is substantially the same and the customer simultaneously receives and consumes the benefits as access is provided, therefore, the performance obligation consists of a series of distinct service periods. Accordingly, the platform services represent a single promise to provide continuous access (i.e. a stand-ready performance obligation) to the platform. Accordingly, the platform payment revenue allocated to platform services is recognized evenly over the term of the contract. Variable subscriber fees are allocated to the platform services and are recognized as the fees are invoiced.

Revenues related to professional services are distinct from the other promises in the contract(s) and are recognized as the related services are performed, on the basis of hours consumed.

Other professional services consist of professional service arrangements with platform services customers which are billed based on separate Statement of Work (“SOW”) arrangements for bespoke feature development. Revenues for professional services contracted through separate SOWs are recognized at a point-in-time when the final acceptance criteria have been met. 

Domain registration contracts, which can be purchased for terms of one to ten years, provide our resellers and retail registrant customers with the exclusive right to a personalized internet address from which to build an online presence. The Company enters into domain registration contracts in connection with each new, renewed and transferred-in domain registration. At the inception of the contract, the Company charges and collects the registration fee for the entire registration period. Though fees are collected upfront, revenue from domain registrations are recognized ratably over the registration period as domain registration contracts contain a ‘right to access’ license of IP, which is a distinct performance obligation measured over time. The registration period begins once the Company has confirmed that the requested domain name has been appropriately recorded in the registry under contractual performance standards.

Domain related value-added services like digital certifications, WHOIS privacy, website hosting and hosted email provide our resellers and retail registrant customers with tools and additional functionality to be used in conjunction with domain registrations. All domain related value-added services are considered distinct performance obligations which transfer the promised service to the customer over the contracted term. Fees charged to customers for domain related value-added services are collected at the inception of the contract, and revenue is recognized on a straight-line basis over the contracted term, consistent with the satisfaction of the performance obligations.

The Company is an ICANN accredited registrar. Thus, the Company is the primary obligor with our reseller and retail registrant customers and is responsible for the fulfillment of our registrar services to those parties. As a result, the Company reports revenue in the amount of the fees we receive directly from our reseller and retail registrant customers. Our reseller customers maintain the primary obligor relationship with their retail customers, establish pricing and retain credit risk to those customers. Accordingly, the Company does not recognize any revenue related to transactions between our reseller customers and their ultimate retail customers.

The Company also sells the rights to the Company’s portfolio domains or names acquired through the Company’s domain expiry stream. The domain expiry stream involves domain names whose registration has expired and as per ICANN regulations are placed into a 40-day grace period. Though the domain names do not belong to the registrant during the 40-day grace period, the Company is restricted from allowing others to register them. The Company monetizes its domain expiry stream both through the sale of names and by allowing advertisers to place parked pages advertisements on the domains. Revenue generated from sale of domain name contracts, containing a distinct performance obligation to transfer the domain name rights under the Company’s control, is generally recognized once the rights have been transferred and payment has been received in full.

Advertising revenue is derived through domain parking monetization, whereby the Company contracts with third-party Internet advertising publishers to direct web traffic from the Company’s domain expiry stream domains, surname domains and direct navigation domains to advertising websites. Compensation from Internet advertising publishers is calculated variably on a cost-per-action basis based on the number of advertising links that have been visited in a given month. Given that the variable consideration is calculated and paid on a monthly basis, no estimation of variable consideration is required.

Disaggregation of Revenue

The following is a summary of the Company’s revenue earned from each significant revenue stream (Dollar amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars):

One customer in the Company's Wavelo operating segment accounted for 12% ($10.9 million) and 10.5% ($9.2 million) of total revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and March 31, 2024, respectively.

At March 31, 2025, one customer represented 55% of accounts receivables. As of December 31, 2024, one customer represented 56% of total accounts receivable. 

The following is a summary of the Company’s cost of revenue from each significant revenue stream (Dollar amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars): 

Contract Balances

The following table provides information about contract liabilities from contracts with customers. The Company accounts for contract assets and liabilities on a contract-by-contract basis, with each contract presented as either a net contract asset or a net contract liability accordingly.

Some of the Company’s long-term contracts with customers are billed in advance of service, such as domain contracts and some professional service contracts. Consideration received from customers related to performance obligations which have not yet been satisfied are recorded as contract liabilities.

Contract liabilities primarily relate to the portion of the transaction price received in advance related to the unexpired term of domain name registrations and other domain related value-added services, on both a wholesale and retail basis, net of external commissions. 

Significant changes in contract liabilities for the three months ended March 31, 2025 were as follows (Dollar amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars): 

Remaining Performance Obligations

For retail mobile and internet access services, where the performance obligation is part of contracts that have an original expected duration of one year or less (typically one month), the Company has elected to apply a practical expedient to not disclose revenues expected to be recognized in the future related to performance obligations that are unsatisfied (or partially unsatisfied).

Although domain registration contracts are deferred over the lives of the individual contracts, which can range from one to ten years, approximately 80 percent of our contract liabilities balance related to domain contracts is expected to be recognized within the next twelve months.

Professional services revenue related to platform services agreement is deferred and recognized as hours are incurred over the contract term. Any revenue for unused professional service hours is recognized as revenue at the end of the contract period.