Near the end of 2006, ICANN gave VeriSign a monopoly with the .com and .net domains. Now for the second straight year VeriSign is raising the price registrars must pay them for .com and .net domains.
The .com fee will increase by 44 cents and the .net fee will increase by 38 cents, effective on October 1, 2008. Those increases are the 7 percent maximum that is allowed. It is likely that registrars will pass the price increase on to customers.
The VeriSign contract ends in 2012 and there is no reason to believe that they will stop the 7 percent annual increases.
Under the agreement VeriSign has with ICANN, VeriSign must give six months advance notice of a price increase.
Here are a few articles about the increase:
AGIPNEWS5644 VeriSign Announces Increase in .Com/.Net Domain Name Fees ag-ip-news.com (Intellectual Property News Agency)
VeriSign Increases .Com/.Net Domain Name Fees
VeriSign Increases Fees For .Com and .Net Domains