TUCOWS INC /PA/ - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)

Information Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements by Tucows Inc. (the “Company”, “we”, “us” “Tucows” or “our”) with regard to our expectations as to financial results and other aspects of our business that involve risks and uncertainties and may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “should,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,” “estimate,” “expect,” and “intend,” and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this report include statements regarding, among other things, the competition we expect to encounter as our business develops and competes in a broader range of Internet services, the Company's foreign currency requirements, specifically for the Canadian dollar and Euro; Mobile Services Platform and fixed Internet access subscriber growth and retention rates, the number of new, renewed and transferred-in domain names we register as our business develops and competes; the effect of a potential generic top level domain (“gTLD”) expansion by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) on the number of domains we register and the impact it may have on related revenues; our belief regarding the underlying platform for our domain services, our expectation regarding the trend of sales of domain names and advertising; our belief that, by increasing the number of services we offer, we will be able to generate higher revenues; our expectation regarding litigation; the potential impact of current and pending claims on our business; our valuations of certain deferred tax assets; our expectation to collect our outstanding receivables, net of our allowance for doubtful accounts; our expectation regarding fluctuations in certain expense and cost categories; our expectations regarding our unrecognized tax; our expectations regarding cash from operations to fund our business; the impact of cancellations of or amendments to market development fund programs under which we receive funds, our expectation regarding our ability to manage realized gains/losses from foreign currency contracts; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, operations and financial performance; and general business conditions and economic uncertainty. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Many factors affect our ability to achieve our objectives and to successfully develop and commercialize our services including:

This list of factors that may affect our future performance and financial and competitive position and the accuracy of forward-looking statements is illustrative, but it is by no means exhaustive. Accordingly, all forward-looking statements should be evaluated with the understanding of their inherent uncertainty. All forward-looking statements included in this document are based on information available to us as of the date of this document, and we assume no obligation to update these cautionary statements or any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. These statements are not guarantees of future performance.

We qualify all the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K by the foregoing cautionary statements.

PART I

ITEM 1.  BUSINESS

Overview

Our mission is to provide simple useful services that help people unlock the power of the Internet.

We accomplish this by reducing the complexity of our customers’ experience as they access the Internet (at home or on the go) and while using Internet services such as domain name registration, email and other Internet services. During the first quarter of 2021, the Company completed a reorganization of its reporting structure into three operating and reportable segments: Fiber Internet Services, Mobile Services and Domain Services. Previously, we disclosed two operating and reportable segments: Network Access Services and Domain Services. The change to our reportable operating segments was the result of a shift in our business and management structures that was initiated in 2020 and completed during the first quarter of 2021. The operations supporting what was previously known as our Network Access Services segment have become increasingly distinct between our mobile services (which includes both retail Mobile Virtual Network Operator ("MVNO") based services and wholesale Mobile Services Enabler ("MSE") services) and our fiber Internet services which also were included in our Network Access Services segment. We are now both organized and managed, and also report our financial results as three segments: Fiber Internet Services, Mobile Services and Domain Services. The three segments are differentiated primarily by their services, the markets they serve and the regulatory environments in which they operate.

Our management regularly reviews our operating results on a consolidated basis, principally to make decisions about how we utilize our resources and to measure our consolidated operating performance. To assist us in forecasting growth and to help us monitor the effectiveness of our operational strategies, our management regularly reviews revenue for each of our service offerings in order to gain more depth and understanding of the key business metrics driving our business. Commencing in the first quarter of 2021, our Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who also is our chief operating decision maker, reviewed the operating results of Mobile Services and Fiber Internet Services as two distinct segments in order to make key operating decisions as well as evaluate segment performance. Accordingly, effective January 1, 2021 we report Fiber Internet Services, Mobile Services and Domain Services revenue separately. Additionally, we have adjusted segment reporting to include adjusted EBITDA as a key measure of segment performance in addition to our existing key measure of segment performance, gross profit.

Effective January 1, 2022, our existing Mobile Services segment will be renamed Communication Service Providers ("CSPs") Platform Services segment, and no longer include the 10-year payment stream on transferred legacy subscribers earned as part of the DISH Purchase Agreement as well as the retail sale of mobile phones, retail telephony services and transition services, all of which are not considered a part of our core business operations with the shift from MVNO to MSE. The renamed CSP Platform Services segment will continue to contain our MSE and professional services product offerings (now branded as Wavelo), as well as the billing solutions to Internet service providers (“ISPs”), that was previously reported under Fiber Internet Services segment. The Fiber segment will now only contain the operating results of our retail high speed Internet access operations, excluding the billing solutions moved to the new CSP Platform Services segment. The product offerings included in the Domain Services segment will remain unchanged.

The 10-year payment stream on transferred legacy subscribers as well as retail sale of mobile phones, retail telephony services and transition services will be excluded from segment EBITDA results as they are no longer centrally managed and not monitored by or reported to our CEO by segment.

Fiber Internet Services

Fiber Internet Services includes the provision of fixed high-speed Internet access services and other revenues, including billing solutions to small ISPs.

The Company primarily derives revenue from the sale of fixed high-speed Internet access, Ting Internet, in select towns throughout the United States, with further expansion underway to both new and existing Ting towns. Our primary sales channel of Ting Internet is through the Ting website. The primary focus of Ting Internet is to provide reliable Gigabit Internet services to consumer and business customers. Revenues from Ting Internet are all generated in the U.S. and are provided on a monthly basis. Ting Internet services have no fixed contract terms. On November 8, 2021, the Company closed its acquisition of Simply Bits, LLC ("Simply Bits"). Simply Bits is the largest fixed wireless network service company based in Tucson, Arizona and has created over the past 17 years a sophisticated and robust network and is positioned to serve more than 425,000 residences as well as enterprises, educational institutions and government agencies. 

Mobile Services

Mobile Services includes the provision of MSE platform and professional services, as well as the sale of retail mobile phone and retail telephone services for a small subset of retail customers retained as part of the DISH Purchase Agreement (discussed below) entered into in the past year.

Historically, the Company offered Ting Mobile telephony services through the Ting website and to a lesser extent through certain third-party retail stores and online retailers. We generated revenues from the sale of retail telephony services, mobile phone hardware and related accessories to individuals and small businesses through the Ting website. Ting Mobile’s primary focus was providing simple and easy to use services, including simple value pricing, in particular for multi-line accounts, and superior customer care. This continued until August 1, 2020, when the Company entered into the DISH Purchase Agreement pursuant to which the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Ting, Inc. sold substantially all of its retail mobile customer relationships, and mobile handset and SIM inventory to DISH and granted DISH the right to use and an option to purchase the Ting brand. The transferred assets under the DISH Purchase Agreement did not include the technology platforms and related intellectual property and infrastructure necessary to enable or support the mobile customers. The Company retained the assets used to provide the MSE platform and other professional services to DISH, as discussed further below. The residual revenues and costs associated with retail mobile services in the months following the entry into the DISH Purchase Agreement represent the telephony services, mobile phone hardware and related accessories sold to the small subset of customer relationships retained by the Company that were not part of the DISH Purchase Agreement. These customers are limited to one MNO agreement that was not assigned to DISH. The Company continues to retain customer accounts associated with the excluded MNO, and the minimum revenue commitments under the excluded MNO contract. For the purposes of management's discussion and analysis below, these residual revenues and costs associated with the retained customer accounts have been classified as "retail mobile services" in the current period.  

Historically, the Company also operated other MVNO brands, ZipSim and Always Online Wireless (collectively referred to as the “Roam Mobility brands”). The Roam Mobility brands operated as an MVNO on the same nationwide Global System for Mobile communications (“GSM”) network used by Ting Mobile and distributed through third-party retail stores and product branded websites. The primary focus of the Roam Mobility brands was to offer affordable roaming service to those travelling throughout the United States or Internationally. In light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business and leisure travel industries, demand for SIM-enabled roaming services early in the fiscal year ("Fiscal") ending December 31, 2020 ("Fiscal 2020") decreased significantly. As a result of the current and expected longer term reduction of business and leisure travel, the Company decided to shut down the operations of the Roam Mobility brands in June 2020, which was completed by September 30, 2020. 

Although we still provide mobile telephony services to a small subset of customers retained through the Ting Mobile brand, this service offering no longer represents the Company's strategic focus for Mobile Services going forward. Instead, we have transitioned away from a MVNO and towards a MSE, where we will focus on delivering a wide range of functions including billing, activation, provisioning, funnel marketing, and other professional services to mobile providers. Contemporaneously with the execution of the DISH Purchase Agreement, the Company executed a Mobile Services Enabler Master Services Agreement (the “MSA”) with DISH to provide certain back-office enabling services in support of DISH's MVNO operations in the United States. The MSA has a four-year term effective August 1, 2020. DISH is the first Tucows MSE customer. Under the terms of the MSA, the Company is permitted to sell MSE services to other third parties.  

Revenues from our retail mobile services, MSE platform and professional services are all generated in the U.S. and are provided on a monthly basis. Our MSE customer agreements have set contract lengths with the underlying Mobile Virtual Network Operator ("MVNO"). As part of the DISH Purchase Agreement, as a form of consideration for the sale of the customer relationships, the Company receives a payout on the margin associated with the legacy customer base sold to DISH. This has been classified as Other Income and is not considered revenue in the current period.

Domain Services

Domain Services includes wholesale and retail domain name registration services, value added services and portfolio services derived through our OpenSRS, eNom, Ascio and Hover brands. We earn revenues primarily from the registration fees charged to resellers in connection with new, renewed and transferred domain name registrations. In addition, we earn revenues from the sale of retail domain name registration and email services to individuals and small businesses. Domain Services 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.

Our primary distribution channel is a global network of approximately 35,000 resellers that operate in approximately 180 countries and who typically provide their customers, the end-users of Internet-based services, with solutions for establishing and maintaining an online presence. Our primary focus is serving the needs of this network of resellers by providing the broadest portfolio of gTLD and the country code top-level domain (“ccTLD”) 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. Our services are integral to the solutions that our resellers deliver to their customers. We provide “second tier” support to our resellers by email, chat and phone in the event resellers experience issues or problems with our services. In addition, our Network Operating Center proactively monitors all services and network infrastructure to address deficiencies before customer services are impacted.

We believe that the underlying platforms for our services are among the most mature, reliable and functional reseller-oriented provisioning and management platforms in our industry, and we continue to refine, evolve and improve these services for both resellers and end-users. Our business model is characterized primarily by non-refundable, up-front payments, which lead to recurring revenue and positive operating cash flow.

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 25.2 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, ISPs and other resellers around the world. In addition, we also derive revenue by monetizing domain names which are near the end of their lifecycle through advertising revenue or 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. Our retail domain services also include our Personal Names Service – based on over 35,000 surname domains – that allows roughly two-thirds of Americans to purchase an email address based on their last name. The retail segment now includes the sale of the rights to its portfolio of surname domains used in connection with our Realnames email service as well as our Exact Hosting Service, that provides Linux hosting services for individual and small business websites.

Additional information about segments can be found in “Note 19 – Segment Reporting” of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report.

Intellectual Property

We believe that we are well positioned in the wholesale domain registration and email markets due in part to our highly-recognized “Tucows”, “OpenSRS”, “Ascio” and “eNom” brands and the respect they confer on us as a defender of end-user rights and reseller-friendly approaches to doing business. We were among the first group of 34 registrars to be accredited by ICANN in 1999, and we remain active in Internet governance issues.

Our success and ability to compete depend on our ability to develop and maintain the proprietary aspects of our brand name and technology. We rely on a combination of trademark, trade secret and copyright laws, as well as contractual restrictions to protect our intellectual property rights.

We have registered the Tucows trademark in the United States, Canada and the European Union and we register additional service marks and trademarks as appropriate and where such protection is available.

We seek to limit disclosure of our intellectual property by requiring all employees and consultants with access to our proprietary information to commit to confidentiality, non-disclosure and work-for-hire agreements. All of our employees are required to sign confidentiality and non-use agreements, which provide that any rights they may have in copyrightable works or patentable technologies accrue to us. Before entering into discussions with potential vendors and partners about our business and technologies, we require them to enter into a non-disclosure agreement. If these discussions result in a license or other business relationship, we also generally require that the agreement containing the parties’ rights and obligations include provisions for the protection of its intellectual property rights.

Customers

The majority of the customers to whom we provide reseller services are generally either web hosts or ISPs. A small number of customers are consultants and designers providing our services to their business clients. Both our Retail Domain Services and as well as our Mobile and Fiber Internet Services customers are a very broad mix of consumers, small businesses and corporations. We have a singular customer in DISH for our MSE Platform and Other Professional Services, until such time we expand these offerings to other MVNOs.

No customer represented more than 10% of our consolidated revenues in any of the last three fiscal years.

While web hosts and ISPs are capitalizing on the growth in Internet usage and the demand for new services, they also face significant competition from numerous other service providers with competitive or comparable offerings. This has led such web hosts and ISPs to focus on core competencies. As such resellers are increasingly seeking to outsource non-core services. Outsourcing enables these resellers to better focus on customer acquisition and retention efforts by eliminating the need to own, develop and support non-core applications in-house.

Seasonality

During the summer months and certain other times of the year, such as major holidays, Internet usage often declines. As a result, some of our services (such as OpenSRS, eNom, Ascio, and Hover) may experience reduced demand during these times. For example, our experience shows that new domain registrations decline during the summer months and around the year-end holidays.  

Competition

Our competitors may be divided into the following groups:

We expect to continue to experience significant competition from the competitors identified above and, as our business continues to develop, we expect to encounter competition from other providers. Service providers, Internet portals, web hosting companies, email hosting companies, outsourced application companies, country code registries and major telecommunication firms may broaden their services to include services we offer.

We believe the primary competitive factors in our Mobile and Fiber Internet Services are:

We believe the primary competitive factors in our Domain Services are:

Although we encounter pricing pressure in many markets in which we compete, we believe the effects of that pressure are mitigated by the fact that we deliver a high degree of value to our customers through our business and technical practices. We believe our status as a trusted supplier also allows us to mitigate the effects of this type of competition. We believe that the long-term relationships we have made with many customers results in a sense of certainty that would not be available to those customers through a competitor.

Human Capital Resources

Employee Profile

At Tucows, we strive to maintain a best-in-class workplace where our employees can proudly bring their whole selves to work. We believe that by creating an intentional, inclusive culture, our people have more opportunities to thrive every day. 

As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately 1,000 full-time employees globally. As a global Internet and technology company, we have a wide range of employees, including management professionals, technicians, engineers, and call center employees. None of our employees are currently represented by a labor union. We consider our relations with our employees to be good. Approximately 60% of our employees are based in Canada, followed by 32% based in the U.S., and the remaining 8% are spread across countries in Europe and other regions. Of our employees, approximately 380 support our Fiber Internet Services segment, 160 support our Mobile Services segment, and approximately 260 support our Domains Services segment. The remaining 200 employees support corporate functions and shared technology services used across the Tucows group.

We offer competitive compensation in addition to employee stock options, physical and mental health benefits, learning allowances, future planning programs for employee Registered Retirement Savings Plans ("RRSP/401k") contributions, as well as generous vacation, maternity, paternity and adoption leaves for our employees.

As an organization, Tucows is proud to foster a flexible, remote-first work environment that empowers employees to find a work style that fits their individual circumstances. Some employees perform work in other environments, including fulfillment centers, customers’ homes or businesses to perform service installation, and in the field to build out our network facilities. 

As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have established a Fiber Internet install solution for our employees and customers that minimizes risks associated with person-to-person contact. We have also implemented a vaccination policy requiring those employees who work from a Company office, meet in person with customers or travel by plane or train for business purposes to be fully vaccinated.

Employee Wellness

Tucows has introduced a series of initiatives that prioritize the mental and personal well-being of our employees and destigmatize mental health conversations at work. These initiatives include daily mindfulness sessions open to all employees, as well as company-wide memberships to mindfulness tools that allow employees to prioritize their well-being whenever they need. 

The Company also supports seven Employee Resource Groups ("ERGs") focused on 2SLGBTQ+, caregivers, women leadership, Canadian newcomers, neurodiversity, BIPOC, and racial justice and equality. These volunteer groups connect employees with shared characteristics, life experiences and enable them to engage in activities that advance our culture and contribute to our success.

Diversity and Inclusion

As an organization, Tucows is believes in the importance of driving meaningful change and impact; from its products to its people, everything is approached with intentionality. Our people philosophy is no different. To us, inclusion is not a standalone effort; it is intrinsically part of our employee experience, which helps us create a space where our team can proudly and comfortably bring their full selves to work. This principle is found throughout the entire company, and is especially apparent in Tucows’ benchmark-free people philosophy. The Company has invested in resources that build community and foster inclusivity within the organization. In 2021, Tucows publicly released its inaugural employee representation report to transparently share key data and the company’s intentional approach to inclusivity and employee experience. The Company plans to share its employee representation findings annually on the Company's website as we continue to enhance our practices in this space. 

Compliance with Government Regulations 

Fiber Internet Services 

Our 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. States and localities also consider new broadband-related regulations, including those regarding government-owned broadband networks, net neutrality and connectivity during COVID-19. Additionally, as an internet service provider (“ISP”), we must implement certain network capabilities to assist law enforcement in conducting surveillance of persons suspected of criminal activity. From time to time, the FCC considers imposing new regulatory obligations on ISPs. We are committed to an Open Internet and do not block, throttle or engage in paid or affiliated prioritization, and have committed not to block, throttle or discriminate against lawful content. 

Mobile Services 

The FCC and other federal, state and local, as well as international, governmental authorities have jurisdiction over our business. The licensing, construction, operation, sale and interconnection arrangements of wireless telecommunications systems are regulated by the FCC and, depending on the jurisdiction, international, state and local regulatory agencies. In particular, the FCC imposes significant regulation on licensees of wireless spectrum with respect to how radio spectrum is used by licensees, the nature of the services that licensees may offer and how the services may be offered, and resolution of issues of interference between spectrum bands.

Domain Services

Our Domain Services segment is subject to regulation by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN"), federal and state laws in the U.S. and the laws of other jurisdictions in which we do business. These include:

ICANN: The registration of domain names is governed by ICANN. ICANN is a multi-stakeholder private sector, not-for-profit corporation formed for the express purposes of overseeing a number of Internet related tasks, including management of the DNS, allocation of IP addresses, accreditation of domain name registrars and registries and the definition and coordination of policy development for all of these functions. Tucows, eNom, EPAG and Ascio are each individually accredited by ICANN as domain name registrars and thus our ability to offer domain name registration products is subject to our ongoing relationship with, and accreditation by, ICANN. 

Country Code Top-Level Domain ("ccTLD") Authorities: The regulation of ccTLDs is governed by national regulatory agencies of the country underlying the specific ccTLDs, such as Canada (.ca). Our ability to sell ccTLDs is dependent on our ability to maintain accreditation in good standing with these various international authorities.

Communications Decency Act ("CDA"): The CDA generally protects online service providers, such as Tucows, from liability for certain activities of their customers, such as posting of defamatory or obscene content, unless the online service provider is participating in the unlawful conduct. Notwithstanding the general protections from liability under the CDA, we may nonetheless be forced to defend ourselves from claims of liability covered by the CDA, resulting in an increased cost of doing business.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”): The DMCA provides recourse for owners of copyrighted material who believe that their rights under U.S. copyright law have been infringed on the Internet. Under the DMCA, we generally are not liable for infringing content posted by third parties. However, if we receive a proper notice from a copyright owner alleging infringement of its protected works by web pages for which we provide hosting services, and we fail to expeditiously remove or disable access to the allegedly infringing material, fail to post and enforce a digital rights management policy or a policy to terminate accounts of repeat infringers, or otherwise fail to meet the requirements of the safe harbor under the DMCA, the owner may seek to impose liability on us.

General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”): GDPR creates obligations around the procurement, processing, publication and sharing of personal data. Potential fines for violations of certain provisions of GDPR reach as high as 4% of a company’s annual total revenue, potentially including the revenue of its international affiliates. The solutions we develop for GDPR-compliance may not be adequate in the views of regulatory authorities or ICANN, which may cause the loss of WHOIS privacy revenue or increase our costs of developing compliant solutions or subject us to litigation, liability, civil penalties, or loss of market share. As the privacy laws and regulations around the world continue to evolve, these changes could adversely affect our business operations in similar ways

Several bodies of law may be deemed to apply to us with respect to various customer activities. Because we operate in a relatively new and rapidly evolving industry and since our industry is characterized by rapid changes in technology and in new and growing illegal activity, these bodies of laws are constantly evolving. As a host of content through our Exact Hosting business, and to a lesser extent as a registrar of domain names services we may be subject to potential liability for illegal activities by our resellers’ customers on their websites. We provide an automated service that enables users to register domain names. We do not monitor or review, nor does our accreditation agreement with ICANN require that we monitor or review, the appropriateness of the domain names we register for our customers or the content of their websites, and we have no control over the activities in which these customers engage. While we have policies in place to terminate domain names or to take other action if presented with evidence of illegal conduct, customers could nonetheless engage in prohibited activities without our knowledge.

Corporate Information

Our principal place of business is located in Canada.

We were incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in November 1992 under the name Infonautics, Inc. In August 2001, we completed our acquisition of Tucows Inc., a Delaware corporation, and we changed our name from Infonautics, Inc. to Tucows Inc. Our principal executive offices are located at 96 Mowat Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M6K 3M1 Canada. Our telephone number is (416) 535-0123. We also have offices in Germany, Denmark and the United States of America.

We are subject to the filing requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”). Therefore, we file annual reports, periodic reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically at www.sec.gov.

Our website address is tucows.com. We make available through our website, free of charge, copies of our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as amended as soon as reasonably practicable after filing such material electronically or otherwise furnishing it to the SEC. The information on the website listed above is not and should not be considered part of this Annual Report and is not incorporated by reference in this document.

Information about our Executive Officers and Key Employees

The following table sets forth the names, ages and titles of persons currently serving as our executive officers and key employees.

Elliot Noss has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer of Tucows Inc. since May 1999 and served as Vice President of Corporate Services for Tucows Interactive Limited, which was acquired by Tucows in May 1999, from April 1997 to May 1999.

Davinder Singh has served as our Chief Financial Officer since 2017, having previously served as Vice President Finance since joining the Company in 2016. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Singh spent eight years at KPMG LLP primarily focusing on public company audits in the technology field. After leaving KPMG LLP, Mr. Singh joined TELUS and held progressive roles, including Chief Financial Officer of TELUS International. Mr. Singh is a Chartered Professional Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia. Mr. Singh also sits on the Board of Hootsuite and serves as its audit committee chair. Hootsuite, is a privately held social media management company.

David Woroch currently serves as our Chief Executive Officer of Tucows Domains Services and has led our Domains business since 2014 and oversees OpenSRS, eNom, Ascio and EPAG (wholesale), Hover (retail) and the premium domain portfolio. Mr. Woroch joined Tucows in March 2000 after thirteen years at IBM and has helped build Tucows’ sales, marketing, business development, product management and technical support capabilities.

Bret Fausett joined Tucows in September 2017 as our Chief Legal Officer. Prior to joining Tucows, Mr. Fausett worked for Uniregistry, where he had served as General Counsel for six years. Prior to Uniregistry, Mr. Fausett worked as outside legal counsel to a number of domain industry related companies.

Jessica Johannson has served as our Chief People Officer since January 2017. Prior to joining Tucows, Ms. Johannson held executive level HR roles at Johnson Controls, Inc. since 2008, Brookfield Renewable Energy Group and Capgemini.

Justin Reilly joined Tucows in September 2019 and currently serves as our Chief Executive Officer of Wavelo. Prior to joining Tucows, Justin was Head of Product & Customer Experience Innovation at Verizon, as well as founder of a number of companies with consumer grade product and machine learning at their core.

ITEM 1A.  RISK FACTORS

Our business faces significant risks. Some of the following risks relate principally to our business and the industry and statutory and regulatory environment in which we operate. Other risks relate principally to the securities markets and ownership of our stock. The risks described below may not be the only risks we face. Additional risks that we do not yet know of or that we currently think are immaterial may also impair our business operations. If any of the events or circumstances described in the following risk factors actually occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could suffer, and the trading price of our common stock could decline.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY

We face intense competition and consolidation in the industries and markets we serve. If we do not continue to provide services that are useful to users, we may not remain competitive and be forced to reduce our prices, and our revenues and operating results could be adversely affected.

The industries and markets we serve are characterized by intense competition and consolidation. Be it the U.S. Internet services industry serviced by our Fiber Internet Segment, the U.S. wireless communications industry serviced by our Mobile Services Segment or the Internet Services and domain registration market serviced by our Domain Services Segment; these industries and markets have become extremely competitive and are characterized both by the entrance of new competitors or the expansion of services offered by existing competitors. Our brands compete with incumbent service providers and their affiliate brands. Most of our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical, personnel and marketing resources and a larger market shares than we do in all of our segments, and we may not be able to compete successfully against them. Due to their size and bargaining power, they may obtain discounts for facilities, equipment, devices, content, and services, potentially placing us at a competitive disadvantage. As consolidation in these industries creates even larger competitors, our competitors’ purchasing and cost structure advantages may increase further, hampering our efforts to attract and retain customers. They may use their significant market power and greater resources to introduce additional products and service features (or lower prices) that we are unable to offer at similar cost or price to the customer. This may impact our ability to win over significant market share from these competitors. To remain competitive, we may be compelled to reduce the prices for our services or augment our service offerings. Any subsidies or price reductions that we offer in order to remain competitive may reduce our margins and revenues, and may adversely affect our profitability and cash flows. Lower prices may also make our services more accessible to new, lower-value customers with less disposable income available to spend on our services. In addition, if prices decline, customers without long-term contracts may change their service providers more frequently, thereby increasing our churn and resulting in higher acquisition costs to replace those customers. A shift to lower value or less loyal customers could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and cash flows.

Our service offerings may not be successful if we are unable to maintain existing customer relationships or establish new relationships.

Maintaining our existing customer relationships and being able to establish new relationships is critical to our success across our segments, regardless if that customer is an end consumer wanting gigabit Fiber internet service to their home, a telecommunication provider, or a leading global domain reseller. Long-term success is dependent upon our sustained ability to generate sufficient revenue from our customers based on their use of our services and ability to respond to churn by retaining existing customers and adding new customers. With significant investments across our segments, be it in the continued build out of our Fiber Network across the United States, our development of our MSE or Domains Platforms, our performance and financial results could be negatively impacted if we are unable to realize the return on these investments by failing to attract customers or retain customers to the services we offer. 

Our Retail Mobile Services has limited influence over the small subset of subscribers on the MNO contract retained by the Company as part of the DISH Purchase Agreement, and we may be unable to effectively respond to churn or attract a sufficient level of new customers to meet the minimum commitments with this MNO partner. This could incur significant and recurring penalties until such a time that the contract is complete. These penalties would negatively impact our operational performance and financial results if enforced by the MNO. Based on the size of the small subset of customers retained as part of the DISH Purchase Agreement and their limited network usage, the Company expects to incur MNO penalties through the majority of Fiscal 2022 and thereafter unless the contract can be reassigned to a third party from the sale of this retained subscriber base. 

Regarding our Mobile Platform Services, DISH is our sole customer and represents 100% of our MSE revenues until such time that we are able to scale our services to other customers interested in our enablement services. With all our MSE revenues concentrated with one customer, we are exposed to significant risk if we are unable to maintain this customer relationship or establish new relationships with other MVNOs in the future. Additionally, our revenues as an MSE are directly tied to the subscriber volumes of DISH's MVNO or MNO networks, so our profitability is contingent on the ability of DISH to continue to add subscribers onto our platform. If any of these events occur, our operational performance and financial results may be adversely affected.

Our service offerings may be limited in ability to grow their respective businesses and customer base unless we can continue to manage our vendor relationships and supply chain to obtain valuable products and service options to offer to our customers. 

In order to remain competitive, we must provide a multitude of valuable products and services to our customers. To enable this, we need to continue to manage our vendor relationships and supply chain to ensure we are able to obtain valuable inventory, services and products across our segments. In particular, we need to obtain MNO network capacity for our Mobile Services, fiber optic cable, installation equipment, ONT and router inventory, third party network capacity for our Fiber Internet Services segments, as well as a multitude of domain name registration options in the form of TLDs/ccTLDs for our Domain Services segment. Any change in our ability, or the ability of third parties with whom we contract, to provide these products and services could adversely affect our operations and financial performance.

In our Retail Mobile Services, the fact that we now retain control over such a small subset of our historical subscriber base and that all of those customers are fixed to one MNO network could hinder our ability in the future to negotiate favorable rates and access to the mobile services mentioned above. 

In our Domain Services segment, each registry typically imposes a fee in association with the registration of each domain name and any increases in fees could adversely impact our business. For example, Verisign, the registry for .com, presently charges a $8.39 fee for each .com registration and ICANN currently charges a $0.18 fee for each .com domain name registered in the gTLDs that fall within its purview. We have no control over these agencies and cannot predict when they may increase their respective fees. An amendment to the registry agreement between ICANN and Verisign was approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce in November 2018. The amendment confirms that Verisign will operate the .com registry until 2024 and permits Verisign to pursue with ICANN an up to 7 percent increase in the prices for .com domain names, in each of the last four years of the six-year term of the .com Registry Agreement. The changes also affirm that Verisign may not vertically integrate or operate as a registrar in the .com top level domain. Verisign acted on this ability to raise pricing in Fiscal 2021, increasing our cost of .com registrations by 6.8 percent, relative to the prior year. 

Our service offerings may experience a material adverse effect should the nature of the Internet fundamentally change or fail to grow and expand internationally as a viable medium for commerce. This includes changes in current navigation practices, technologies or marketing practices.

The success of all of our segments depends on the continued development, acceptance and widespread access to the Internet, and its existing domain system and infrastructure as a foundational resource for communication and commerce. 

In our Fiber Internet Services segment, a number of factors could prevent the continued growth and acceptance of symmetrical gigabit Internet infrastructure and service as a medium for faster Internet communication, including (a) the unwillingness of companies and customers to shift their purchasing from traditional ISP vendors to alternative vendors like Ting Fiber; (b) Fiber infrastructure may not be able to support the demands placed on it, and its performance and reliability may decline as usage grows; or (c) where the development of alternative, wireless technologies (such as 5G) that could provide a similar or reasonably acceptable Internet speed and service without a fixed connection/physical network. Any of these issues could slow the growth of the adoption of Fiber Internet, which could limit our growth and revenues.

In our Domain Services segment, the domain name registration industry continues to develop and adapt to changing technology and the demands of individual governments. These developments may include changes in the administration or operation of the Internet, including (a) the creation and institution of alternate systems for directing Internet traffic without the use of the existing domain system or (b) systems under local government control that splinter from, or thwart the operation of, the Internet. Systems existing outside the domain name system are not subject to ICANN accreditation requirements and restrictions. Other competitors have attempted to introduce naming systems that use keywords rather than traditional domains. The widespread acceptance of any alternative systems and Internet navigation practices could eliminate the need to register a domain to establish an online presence and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Additionally, we believe that a major source of growth for Internet-based companies will come from individuals and businesses outside the United States where Internet access and use is currently less prevalent. A substantial number of our resellers are currently based outside the United States and we plan to grow our business in other countries. If Internet usage in these jurisdictions does not increase as anticipated, or if governments prohibit the registration and use of domain names or certain classes of domain names, our revenues may not grow as anticipated.

Our ongoing investment in new businesses, services and technologies and divestment of old businesses and services is inherently risky, and could disrupt our current operations. We may not be able to realize the intended and anticipated benefits from our investments, acquisitions and agreements, which could affect the value of these decisions to our business and our ability to meet our financial obligations and targets in the short or medium term.

We have and expect to continue to acquire companies, assets or the rights to technologies in the future in order to develop new services or enhance existing services, to enhance our operating infrastructure, to fund expansion, to respond to competitive pressures or to acquire complementary businesses across all three of the segments we serve. Entering into these types of arrangements entails many risks, any of which could materially harm our business, including: the diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns; the failure to effectively integrate the acquired technology or company into our business; the incurring of significant acquisition costs; the loss of key employees from either our current business or the acquired business; the assumption of significant liabilities of the acquired company; inability to obtain the appropriate technical and operational resources; and unanticipated local or federal regulatory changes that could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such investments. Any of the foregoing or other factors could harm our ability to achieve anticipated levels of profitability from acquired businesses or to realize other anticipated benefits of acquisitions or return of capital on our investments.

For example, in our Mobile Services segment, as part of the DISH Purchase Agreement, the Company is entitled to a 10-year payment stream that is a function of the margin generated by the transferred subscribers over the 10-year period. With subscribers able to accept offers, plans or pricing from DISH, this consideration structure may not prove to be successful or profitable in the long-term to us if the existing subscriber base churns at an above average rate upon acquisition by DISH. Additionally, given DISH controls the revenues and costs incurred associated with the acquired subscribers, there could arise a situation where profitability for the subscriber base is diminished either by lower price points or cost inflation. If any of these events occur, our operational performance and financial results may be adversely affected.

We may not be able to identify or consummate any future acquisitions on favorable terms, or at all. If we do effect an acquisition, it is possible that the financial markets or investors will view the acquisition negatively. No assurance can be given that such investments will be successful and will not adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.

The Company's success depends on our ability to keep pace with technological advances. Failure to respond to rapid technological changes in the industries we serve or difficulty in scaling or adapting existing architecture could result in the loss of customers and cause us to incur additional expenses.

In our Fiber Internet Services segment, currently there is no Internet access technology that comes close to the speed, reliability, scalability and value of fiber-optics. However, it’s possible that another medium that’s either better or more economically/easily deployed could be developed in the longer term, or wireless could be improved enough to supplant the need for fiber in certain types of installations, like multi-family units, that would impact Ting Fiber’s ability to grow. To be successful as we continue to build out the Ting Fiber network in communities across the U.S. and bring customers onto the network we must ensure that our network infrastructure performs well and is reliable. The greater the user traffic and the greater the complexity of our services, the more computing power we will need. We have spent and expect to continue to spend substantial amounts on the purchase of equipment to enable our network infrastructure to handle increased traffic. This expansion is expensive and complex and could result in inefficiencies or operational failures. If we do not expand successfully, or if we experience inefficiencies and operational failures, the quality of our services and our customers’ experience could decline. This could damage our reputation and lead us to lose current and potential customers. Cost increases, loss of traffic or failure to accommodate new technologies or changing business requirements could harm our operating results and financial condition.

In our Mobile Services segment, the U.S. wireless communications industry is experiencing rapid growth of new technologies, products and services. We cannot predict which of many possible future technologies, products, or services will be important to maintain our competitive position or what expenditures we will be required to make in order to develop and provide these technologies, products or services. To the extent we do not keep pace with technological advances or fail to timely respond to changes in the competitive environment affecting our industry, we could lose market share or experience a decline in revenue, cash flows and net income from our mobile services (both retail and platform related services). As a result of the financial strength and benefits of scale enjoyed by some of our competitors, they may be able to offer services at lower prices than we can, thereby adversely affecting our revenues, growth and profitability.

In our Domain Services segment, the Internet and e-commerce are characterized by rapid technological change. Sudden changes in user and customer requirements and preferences, the frequent introduction of new applications and services embodying new technologies and the emergence of new industry standards and practices could make our applications, services and systems obsolete. The emerging nature of applications and services in the Internet application and services industry and their rapid evolution will require that we continually improve the performance, features and reliability of our applications and services. Our success will depend, in part, on our ability: to develop and license new applications, services and technologies that address the increasingly sophisticated and varied needs of our current and prospective customers; and to respond to technological advances and emerging industry standards and practices on a cost-effective and timely basis. The development of applications and services and other proprietary technology involves significant technological and business risks and requires substantial expenditures and lead-time. We may be unable to use new technologies effectively or adapt our internally developed technology and transaction-processing systems to customer requirements or emerging industry standards in a timely manner, or at all. Our internal development teams may also be unable to keep pace with new technological developments that affect the marketplace for our services. In addition, as we offer new services and functionality, we will need to ensure that any new services and functionality are well integrated with our current services, particularly as we offer an increasing number of our services as part of bundled suites. To the extent that any new services offered by us do not interoperate well with our existing services, our ability to market and sell those new services would be adversely affected and our revenue level and ability to achieve and sustain profitability might be harmed. Updating technology internally and licensing new technology from third parties may require us to incur significant additional capital expenditures.

We rely on network operators, bandwidth providers, data centers and other vendors in providing services to our customers, and any system failure or interruption in the services provided by either our Company or third parties could harm our ability to operate our business and damage our reputation.

In our Fiber Internet Services segment, we rely on the continuing operation of our Fiber Network. Any damage to or failure of our network facilities could result in interruptions in our service, which could reduce our revenues and profits, and damage our brands. Our systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, terrorist attacks, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunications failures, or other attempts to harm our systems. In any Ting town where we are not the underlying network operator and are utilizing the Fiber network of a third party, we rely on those third parties and their affiliates to maintain their network facilities, government authorizations and to comply with government policies and regulations. If they fail do to so, we may incur substantial losses. Some of our data centers are located in areas with a high risk of major earthquakes. Our data centers are also subject to break-ins, sabotage and intentional acts of vandalism, and to potential disruptions if the operators of these facilities have financial difficulties. The occurrence of a natural disaster, a decision to close a facility without adequate notice or other unanticipated problems at our data centers could result in lengthy interruptions in our service.

In our Mobile Services segment, as provider of retail mobile services, we do not own or operate a physical network, but rather utilize the nationwide wireless communication networks of our Network Operator. We rely on them and their third-party affiliates to maintain their wireless facilities and government authorizations and to comply with government policies and regulations. If they fail to do so, we may incur substantial losses. Some of the risks related to their nationwide wireless communication networks and infrastructure include: major equipment failures, breaches of network or information technology security that affect their wireless networks, including transport facilities, communications switches, routers, microwave links, cell sites or other equipment or third-party owned local and long-distance networks on which we rely, power surges or outages, software defects and disruptions beyond their control, such as natural disasters and acts of terrorism, among others. The Master Services Agreement with our Network Operator does not contain any contractual indemnification provisions relating to network outages or other disruptions. Any impact on their nationwide wireless communication networks could disrupt our operations, require significant resources, result in a loss of subscribers or impair our ability to attract new subscribers, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Delays or failure to add network capacity, or increased costs of adding capacity or operating the network, could limit our ability to increase our customer base, limit our ability to increase our revenues, or cause a deterioration of our operating margin.

In our Domain Services segment, the availability of our Domain Name services depends on the continuing operation of our information technology and communications systems. Any damage to or failure of our systems could result in interruptions in our service, which could reduce our revenues and profits, and damage our brands. Our systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, terrorist attacks, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunications failures, computer viruses, computer denial of service attacks or other attempts to harm our systems. Some of our data centers are located in areas with a high risk of major earthquakes. Our data centers are also subject to break-ins, sabotage and intentional acts of vandalism, and to potential disruptions if the operators of these facilities have financial difficulties. Some of our systems are not fully redundant, and our disaster recovery planning cannot account for all eventualities. The occurrence of a natural disaster, a decision to close a facility without adequate notice or other unanticipated problems at our data centers could result in lengthy interruptions in our service.

We are parties to agreements with other unrelated parties for certain business operations and to license third-party technologies. Any claims against these unrelated parties that we rely upon for business operations and/or licensed technology could result in the need to incur substantial costs to replace technology or services which could delay and increase the cost of product and service developments.

Across all three of our business segments, we have entered into agreements with third parties for licensing of certain technologies, the day-to-day execution of certain services, the development and maintenance of certain systems necessary for the operation of our businesses and for network equipment, handsets, devices and other equipment where appropriate. We expect our dependence on key suppliers to continue as more advanced technologies and services are developed. If we experience difficulties with regard to these arrangements or are unable to negotiate on commercially reasonable terms or at all with future vendors, it could result in additional expense, loss of customers and revenue, interruption of our services or a delay in the roll-out of new technology and services for our customers.

Our systems face security risks, and any compromise of the security of these systems could disrupt our business, damage our reputation and result in the disclosure of confidential information, legal liability for damages and loss of customers.

In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and store sensitive data, including intellectual property, our proprietary business information and that of our customers, suppliers and business partners, and personally identifiable information of our customers and employees. Due to the fact that all of our services are Internet based, the amount of data we store for our users on our servers (including personal information) has been increasing. We make extensive use of online services and centralized data processing, including through third-party service providers. The secure maintenance and transmission of customer information is an important element of our operations.

From time to time, concerns have been expressed about whether our services compromise the privacy of our users and others. Concerns about our practices with regard to the collection, use, disclosure or security of personal information or other privacy-related matters, even if unfounded, could damage our reputation and operating results and expose us to litigation and possible liability, including claims for unauthorized purchases with credit card information, impersonation, or fraud claims and other claims relating to the misuse of personal information and unauthorized marketing purposes. While we strive to comply with all applicable data protection laws and regulations, as well as our own privacy policies, any failure or perceived failure to comply may result in proceedings or actions against us by government entities or others, which could potentially have an adverse effect on our business.

We have previously been the target of attempted attacks and must monitor and develop our systems to protect this data from misappropriation. Our information technology and other systems that maintain and transmit customer information, including location or personal information, or those of service providers, may be compromised by a malicious third-party penetration of our network security, or that of a third-party service provider, or impacted by advertent or inadvertent actions or inactions by our employees, or those of a third-party service provider. Cyber-attacks, which include the use of malware, computer viruses and other means for disruption or unauthorized access, have increased in frequency, scope and potential harm in recent years. While, to date, we have not been subject to any successful cyber-attacks or other cyber incidents which, individually or in the aggregate, have been material to our operations or financial condition, the preventive actions we take to reduce the risk of cyber incidents and protect our information technology and networks may be insufficient to repel a major cyber-attack in the future. As a result, our subscribers’ information may be lost, disclosed, accessed, used, corrupted, destroyed or taken without the subscribers’ consent.

Any major compromise of our data or network security, failure to prevent or mitigate the loss of our services or customer information and delays in detecting any such compromise or loss could disrupt our operations, impact our reputation and subscribers' willingness to purchase our services and subject us to additional costs and liabilities, including litigation, which could be material.

Disputes concerning the ownership or rights to use intellectual property and litigation involving other rights of third parties could be costly and time-consuming to litigate, may distract management from operating the business, and may result in us paying significant damage awards, losing significant rights and our ability to operate all or a portion of our business.

We rely upon copyright, trade secret and trademark law, confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, invention assignment agreements and work-for-hire agreements to protect our proprietary technology, all of which offer only limited protection. Due to the global nature of our web-based businesses and services, we cannot ensure that our efforts to protect our proprietary information will be adequate to protect against infringement and misappropriation by third parties, particularly in foreign countries where laws or law enforcement practices may not protect proprietary rights as fully as in the United States of America and Canada.

We have licensed, and may in the future license, some of our trademarks and other proprietary rights to others. Third parties may also reproduce or use our intellectual property rights without seeking a license and thus benefit from our technology without paying for it. Third parties could also independently develop technology, processes or other intellectual property that are similar to or superior to those used by us. Actions by licensees, misappropriation of the intellectual property rights or independent development by others of similar or superior technology might diminish the value of our proprietary rights or damage our reputation. The unauthorized reproduction or other misappropriation of our intellectual property rights, including copying the look, feel and functionality of our website could enable third parties to benefit from our technology without us receiving any compensation. The enforcement of our intellectual property rights may depend on our taking legal action against these infringing parties, and we cannot be sure that these actions will be successful.

Defense of claims of infringement of intellectual property or other rights of third parties against us would require the resources of both our time and money. Third parties may assert claims of infringement of patents or other intellectual property rights against us concerning past, current or future technologies. Content obtained from third parties and distributed over the Internet by us may result in liability for defamation, negligence, intellectual property infringement, product or service liability and dissemination of computer viruses or other disruptive problems. We may also be subject to claims from third parties asserting trademark infringement, unfair competition and violation of publicity and privacy rights relating specifically to domains.

As a domain name registrar, we regularly become involved in disputes over registration of domain names. These disputes are typically resolved through the UDRP, ICANN’s administrative process for domain name dispute resolution, or less frequently through litigation under the ACPA, or under general theories of trademark infringement or dilution. The UDRP generally does not impose liability on registrars, and the ACPA provides that registrars may not be held liable for registering or maintaining a domain name absent a showing of bad faith intent to profit or reckless disregard of a court order by the registrars. However, we may face liability if we fail to comply in a timely manner with procedural requirements under these rules. In addition, these processes typically require at least limited involvement by us, and therefore increase our cost of doing business. The volume of domain name registration disputes may increase in the future as the overall number of registered domain names increases.

We have substantial goodwill and other intangible assets, therefore to the extent that any intellectual property is deemed impaired we would be required to record a significant charge to earnings in our financial statements during the period in which any impairment of our goodwill or intangible assets is determined. Any impairment charges or changes to the estimated amortization periods could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

Our service offerings are exposed to risks associated with credit card and other online payment chargebacks, fraud and new payment methods.

Across all three of our business segments, regardless if those services operate on a postpaid or prepaid basis, we are exposed to the risks associated with credit card and other online payment technologies, chargebacks and fraud associated with these payment types. A substantial majority of our revenue originates from online credit card transactions. Under current credit card industry practices, we are liable for fraudulent and disputed credit card transactions because we do not obtain the cardholder’s signature at the time of the transaction, even though the financial institution issuing the credit card may have authorized the transaction. Under credit card association rules, penalties may be imposed at the discretion of the association. Any such potential penalties would be imposed on our credit card processor by the association. Under our contract with our processor, we are required to reimburse our processor for such penalties. Our current level of fraud protection, based on our fraudulent and disputed credit card transaction history, is within the guidelines established by the credit card associations. However, we face the risk that one or more credit card associations may, at any time, assess penalties against us or terminate our ability to accept credit card payments from customers, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, for our postpaid businesses, namely the Mobile Services and Fiber Internet Services segments, our success depends on our ability to manage credit risk while attracting new customers with profitable usage patterns. Both of these segments have relatively short operating histories and there can be no assurance that it will be able to manage credit risk or generate sufficient revenue to cover its postpaid-related expenses, including losses arising from its customers’ failure to make payments when due. We manage credit risk exposure using techniques that are designed to set terms and limits for the credit risk it accepts. The techniques we use may not accurately predict future defaults due to, among other things, inaccurate assumptions or fraud. Our ability to manage credit risk may also be adversely affected by legal or regulatory changes, competitors’ actions, consumer behavior, and inadequate collections staffing or techniques. While we continually seek to improve our assumptions and controls, the failure to manage credit risk appropriately may materially adversely affect our profitability and ability to grow.

Our indebtedness could adversely affect our financial condition, our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, our ability to operate our business, divert our cash flow from operations for debt payments, and prevent us from meeting our debt obligations. Our debt agreements impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us and our subsidiaries, which may prevent us from capitalizing on business opportunities across the Company.

As of March 1, 2022, our outstanding debt under our credit facility was $191.4 million. Our ability to generate cash flow from operations to make principal and interest payments on our debt will depend on our future performance, which will be affected by a range of economic, competitive and business factors as well as changes in government monetary or fiscal policy.

Absent sufficient cash flows from operations, we may need to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional funds to meet our operating and capital needs. We may not be able to secure additional debt or equity financing on favorable terms, or at all, at the time when we need that funding. In addition, even though we may have sufficient cash flow, we may still elect to sell additional equity or debt securities or obtain credit facilities for other reasons. If we raise additional funds through further issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing shareholders could suffer significant dilution in their percentage ownership of our company, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of our common stock. In addition, if we decide to raise funds through debt or convertible debt financings, we may be unable to meet our interest or principal payments. Our inability to generate sufficient cash flow from operations or obtain additional capital or alternative financing on acceptable terms could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The current agreements governing our indebtedness impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us. These restrictions, subject in certain cases to customary baskets, exceptions, and incurrence-based ratio tests, may limit our or our subsidiaries' ability to engage in some transactions, including the following: incurring additional indebtedness and issuing stock; paying dividends, share repurchases or making other restricted payments or investments; selling assets, properties, or licenses that we have or in the future may procure; creating liens on assets; engaging in mergers, acquisitions, business combinations, or other transactions. These restrictions could limit our ability to react to changes in our operating environment or the economy. Any future indebtedness that we incur may contain similar or more restrictive covenants. Any failure to comply with the restrictions of our debt agreements may result in an event of default under these agreements, which in turn may result in defaults or acceleration of obligations under these agreements and other agreements, giving our lenders the right to terminate any commitments they had made to provide us with further funds and to require us to repay all amounts then outstanding. Any of these events would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results.

The international nature of our businesses and operations expose us to additional risks that could harm our business, operating results, and growth strategy; including risks related to taxation and foreign currencies fluctuations.

We are a U.S. based multinational company. Expansion into international markets is a continued element of our growth strategy. Introducing and marketing our services internationally, developing direct and indirect international sales and support channels and managing foreign personnel and operations all require significant management attention and financial resources. We face a number of risks associated with expanding our businesses internationally that could negatively impact our results of operations, including the following:

Unanticipated changes in effective tax rates or adverse outcomes resulting from examination of our income or other tax returns could adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

We are subject to income and other taxes in a number of jurisdictions and our tax structure is subject to review by both domestic and foreign tax authorities. We must make significant assumptions, judgments and estimates to determine our current provision for income taxes, deferred tax assets and liabilities and any valuation allowance that may be recorded against our deferred tax assets. Although we believe that our estimates are reasonable, the ultimate determination of our tax liability is always subject to review by the applicable tax authorities. Any adverse outcome of such a review could have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition in the period or periods for which such determination is made. Our current and future tax liabilities could be adversely affected by:

We could be subject to changes in tax rates, the adoption of new U.S. or international tax legislation, or exposure to additional tax liabilities. This could discourage the registration or renewal of domain names.

Due to the global nature of the Internet, it is possible that, although our services and the Internet transactions related to them typically originate in the United States, Canada, Denmark and Germany, governments of other states or foreign countries might attempt to regulate our transactions or levy sales, income or other taxes relating to our activities. Tax authorities at the international, federal, state and local levels are currently reviewing the appropriate treatment of companies engaged in Internet commerce. New or revised international, federal, state or local tax regulations may subject us or our customers to additional sales, income and other taxes. We cannot predict the effect of current attempts to impose sales, income or other taxes on commerce over the Internet on Tucows or on our customers. New or revised taxes and, in particular, sales taxes, would likely increase the cost of doing business online and decrease the attractiveness of advertising and selling goods and services over the Internet. New taxes could also create significant increases in internal costs necessary to capture data, and collect and remit taxes. Any of these events could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The Company’s success depends on the continued service and availability of key personnel.

Much of the Company’s future success depends on the continued availability and service of key personnel, including its Chief Executive Officer, executive team and other highly skilled employees. Experienced personnel in the technology industry are in high demand and competition for their talents is intense. We may not be able to retain our key employees or replace them when necessary.

Our business depends on our strong brands. If we are not able to maintain and enhance our brands, our ability to expand our customer base will be impaired and our business and operating results will be harmed.

In recognition of the evolving nature of the internet services market and to make it easier to clearly differentiate each service we offer from our competitors, we enhanced our branding by focusing our primary service offerings under six distinct brands namely “OpenSRS”, “eNom”, “Hover", "EPAG", "Ascio" and “Ting”. We also believe that maintaining and enhancing the “Tucows” corporate brand and our service brands is critical to expanding our customer base. We anticipate that, as our market becomes increasingly competitive, maintaining and enhancing our brands may become increasingly difficult and expensive. Maintaining and enhancing our brands will depend largely on our ability to be a technology leader providing high quality products and services, which we may not do successfully. To date, we have engaged in relatively little direct brand promotion activities. This enhances the risk that we may not successfully implement brand enhancement efforts in the future.

Additionally, as part of the DISH Purchase Agreement executed in Fiscal 2020, the Company granted DISH the right to use the name "Ting" and its associated domain name over a 24-month period, after which DISH has an option to purchase the brand from the Company. If after this period DISH opts to purchase the Ting brand from the Company, we will need to rebrand our Ting Fiber Internet business. DISH will use the Ting brand to provision Ting Mobile services, provided by DISH. Contemporaneously, the Company will continue to use the Ting brand with Ting Fiber, the Company's existing Fiber Internet service. This could cause a misassociation in the minds of consumers and the market who could associate either Company as the single service provider of both services. Additionally, any actions taken by DISH as part of the transactions contemplated by the DISH Purchase Agreement may impact the Ting brand's reputation. These actions could range from poor service quality, bad customer experience, privacy concerns, data breaches, and other events that could negatively impact the Ting brand permanently. The Ting brand could then carry negative connotation with consumers and impact our ability to continue to grow our Fiber Internet business under the Ting brand. If any of these events occur, our operational performance and financial results, in particular those of our Fiber Internet business may be adversely affected.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires us to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of the end of each year, and to include a management report assessing the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in each Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, does not expect that our internal control over financial reporting will prevent all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system's objectives will be met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the controls. Over time, controls may become inadequate because changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may occur. Implementation of new technology related to the control system may result in misstatements due to errors that are not detected and corrected during testing. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and may not be detected.

RISKS RELATED TO LEGAL, GOVERNMENTAL AND REGULATORY MATTERS

The use of ICANN's Oversight of Domain Name Registration System and domain name registration involve charges and fees. If these fees increase, this may have a significant impact on our operating results.

ICANN is a private sector, not-for-profit corporation formed in 1998 by the U.S. Department of Commerce for the express purposes of overseeing a number of Internet related tasks previously performed directly on behalf of the U.S. government, including managing the domain name registration system. ICANN currently imposes a fee ($0.18) in association with the registration of each domain name. We have no control over ICANN and cannot predict when they may increase their respective fees. If we absorb such cost increases, or if surcharges act as a deterrent to registration, our profits may be adversely impacted by these third-party fees.

ICANN has been subject to strict scrutiny by the public and by the U.S. and other governments around the world with many of those governments becoming increasingly interested in Internet governance. For example, the U.S. Congress has held hearings to evaluate ICANN's selection process for new TLDs. In addition, ICANN faces significant questions regarding efficacy as a private sector entity. ICANN may continue to evolve both its long-term structure and mission to address perceived shortcomings such as a lack of accountability to the public and a failure to maintain a diverse representation of interests on its board of directors. We continue to face the risks that:

Data protection regulations may impose legal obligations on us that we cannot meet or that conflict with our ICANN contractual requirements.

In 2018, the European Commission adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”), which creates obligations around the procurement, processing, publication and sharing of personal data. Potential fines for violations of certain provisions of GDPR reach as high as 4% of a company’s annual total revenue, potentially including the revenue of its international affiliates. The solutions we develop for GDPR-compliance may not be adequate in the views of regulatory authorities or ICANN, which may cause the loss of WHOIS privacy revenue or increase our costs of developing compliant solutions or subject us to litigation, liability, civil penalties, or loss of market share. As the privacy laws and regulations around the world continue to evolve, these changes could adversely affect our business operations in similar ways.

The law relating to the use of and ownership of intellectual property on the internet as well as the liability of internet services companies for data and content carried on or disseminated through their network's websites is currently unsettled and could expose us to unforeseen liabilities. This could negatively affect the public’s perception of our corporate image.

As a host of content through our Exact Hosting business, and to a lesser extent as a registrar of domain names services, we may be subject to potential liability for illegal activities by our resellers’ customers on their websites. We provide an automated service that enables users to register domain names. We do not monitor or review, nor does our accreditation agreement with ICANN require that we monitor or review, the appropriateness of the domain names we register for our customers or the content of their websites, and we have no control over the activities in which these customers engage. While we have policies in place to terminate domain names or to take other action if presented with evidence of illegal conduct, customers could nonetheless engage in prohibited activities without our knowledge.

Several bodies of law may be deemed to apply to us with respect to various customer activities. Because we operate in a relatively new and rapidly evolving industry and since our industry is characterized by rapid changes in technology and in new and growing illegal activity, these bodies of laws are constantly evolving. Some of the laws that apply to us with respect to certain customer activities include the following:

Despite these precautions, we cannot be assured that our indemnity and dispute resolution policies will be sufficient to protect us against claims asserted by various third parties, including claims of trademark infringement and unfair competition.

New laws or regulations concerning domains and registrars may be adopted at any time. Our responses to uncertainty in the industry or new regulations could increase our costs or prevent us from delivering our domain registration services over the Internet, which could delay growth in demand for our services and limit the growth of our revenues. New and existing laws may cover issues such as:

An example of legislation passed in response to novel intellectual property concerns created by the Internet is the ACPA enacted by the United States government in November 1999. This law seeks to curtail a practice commonly known in the domain registration industry as cybersquatting. A cyber squatter is generally defined in the ACPA as one who registers a domain that is identical or similar to another party’s trademark, or the name of another living person, with the bad faith intent to profit from use of the domain. The ACPA states that registrars may not be held liable for registration or maintenance of a domain for another person absent a showing of the registrar’s bad faith intent to profit from the use of the domain. Registrars may be held liable, however, if they do not comply promptly with procedural provisions of the ACPA. For example, if there is litigation involving a domain, the registrar is required to deposit a certificate representing the domain registration with the court. If we are held liable under the ACPA, any liability could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our service offerings may become subject to new government regulations that may be costly to adopt, and may adversely affect our business prospects, future growth or results of operations.

The FCC grants wireless licenses for terms of generally ten years that are subject to renewal and revocation. There is no guarantee that our Network Operator's license will be renewed. Failure to comply with FCC requirements applicable to a given license could result in revocation of that license and, depending on the nature of the non-compliance, other licenses.

Various states are considering regulations over terms and conditions of service, including certain billing practices, privacy, and consumer-related issues that may not be pre-empted by federal law. If imposed, these regulations could make it more difficult and expensive to implement national sales and marketing programs and could increase the costs of our operations.

Specifically regarding our Domain Services segment, to date, government regulations have not materially restricted use of the Internet in most parts of the world. The legal and regulatory environment pertaining to the Internet, however, is uncertain and may change. New laws may be passed, existing but previously inapplicable laws may be deemed to apply to the Internet, or existing legal safe harbors may be narrowed, both by U.S. federal or state governments and by governments of foreign jurisdictions. These changes could affect:

The adoption of any new laws or regulations, or the application or interpretation of existing laws or regulations to the Internet, could hinder growth in use of the Internet and online services generally, and decrease acceptance of the Internet and online services as a means of communications, commerce and advertising. In addition, such changes in laws could increase our costs of doing business, subject our business to increased liability or prevent us from delivering our services over the Internet, thereby harming our business and results of operations.

Our Fiber Internet businesses rely on Network Operators. Failure by a Network Operator to obtain the proper licenses and governmental approvals from regulatory authorities would cause us to be unable to successfully operate those businesses.

The FCC licenses currently held by our Network Operators and their third-party affiliates to provide wireless services are subject to renewal and revocation. There is no guarantee that their wireless or network licenses will be renewed. The FCC requires all licensee to meet certain requirements, including so-called “build-out” requirements, to retain their licenses. Their failure to comply with certain FCC requirements in a given license area could result in the revocation of their license for that geographic area. As Ting expands its Internet business, enters new markets, and considers offering regulated telecommunications services, it takes on additional local, state and federal regulatory and compliance obligations that require additional diligence and resources.

We may experience unforeseen or potentially uninsured liabilities or losses in connection with our Domain Services business, including the risk that our standard agreements with customers may not be enforceable. This could negatively impact our financial results.

We operate on a global basis and all of our customers must execute our standard agreements that govern the terms of the services we provide to our customers. These agreements contain provisions intended to limit our potential liability arising from the provision of services to our customers. As most of our customers purchase our services online, execution of our agreements by resellers occurs electronically or, in the case of our terms of use, is deemed to occur because of a user’s continued use of the website/internet service following notice of those terms. We believe that our reliance on these agreements is consistent with the practices in our industry, but if a domestic, foreign or international court were to find that either one of these methods of execution is invalid or that key provisions of our services agreements are unenforceable, we could be subject to liability that has a material adverse effect on our business or we could be required to change our business practices in a way that increases our cost of doing business.

Although we maintain general liability insurance, claims could exceed the coverage obtained or might not be covered by our insurance. While we typically obtain representations from our technology and content providers and contractual partners concerning the ownership of licensed technology and informational content and obtain indemnification to cover any breach of these representations, we still may not receive accurate representations or adequate compensation for any breach of these representations. We may have to pay a substantial amount of money for claims that are not covered by insurance or indemnification or for claims where the existing scope or adequacy of insurance or indemnification is disputed or insufficient.

RISKS RELATED TO OWNERSHIP OF OUR STOCK

Our share price may be volatile, which may make it difficult for shareholders to sell their shares of common stock when they want to, at an attractive price.

Our share price has varied recently and the price of our common stock may decrease in the future, regardless of our operating performance. Investors may be unable to resell their common stock following periods of volatility because of the market’s adverse reaction to this volatility.

The following factors may contribute to this volatility: actual or anticipated variations in our quarterly operating results; interruptions in our services; seasonality of the markets and businesses of our customers; announcements of new technologies or new services by our company or our competitors; our ability to accurately select appropriate business models and strategies; the operating and stock price performance of other companies that investors may view as comparable to us; analyst or short-seller reports; news relating to our company or industry as a whole; and news relating to trends in our markets.

The stock market in general and the market for Internet-related companies in particular, including our company, has experienced volatility.

We cannot guarantee that our recently announced stock buyback program will be fully consummated or that such program will enhance the long-term value of our share price.

On February 10, 2022, the Company announced that its Board had approved a stock buyback program to repurchase up to $40 million of its common stock in the open market. The $40 million buyback program commenced on February 11, 2023 and is expected to terminate on February 10, 2023. Although the Company has repurchased shares under previous programs, there is no obligation for the Company to continue to repurchase or to repurchase any specific dollar amount of stock. The stock buyback program could affect the price of our stock and increase volatility in the market. We cannot guarantee that this program will be fully consummated or that such program will enhance the long-term value of our share price.

GENERAL RISK FACTORS

Economic, political, and market conditions may adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, and operating results.

The financial results of our business are both directly and indirectly dependent upon economic conditions throughout the world, which in turn can be impacted by conditions in the global financial markets. Uncertainty about global economic conditions may lead businesses to postpone spending in response to tighter credit and reductions in income or asset values. Weak economic activity may lead government customers to cut back on services. Factors such as interest rates (including the LIBOR to SOFR transition), availability of credit, inflation rates, changes in laws (including laws relating to taxation), trade barriers, currency exchange rates and controls, and national and international political circumstances (including wars, terrorist acts or security operations) could have a material adverse effect on our business and investments, which could reduce our revenue, profitability and value of our assets. These factors may also adversely affect the business, liquidity and financial condition of our customers. In addition, periods of poor economic conditions could increase our ongoing exposure to credit risks on our accounts receivable balances. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business and financial performance could be adversely affected, directly or indirectly, by both global and local climate and environmental natural disasters, health crises and other disruptive activities. 

Neither the occurrence nor the potential impact of global and local climate and environmental natural disasters, health crises and other disruptive activities can be predicted. However, these occurrences could impact us directly as a result of damage or by preventing us from conducting our business in the ordinary course, or indirectly as a result of their impact on our customers, suppliers or other counterparties. We could also suffer adverse consequences to the extent that such occurrences affect the financial markets or the economy in general or in any particular region or globally. Our ability to mitigate the adverse consequences of such occurrences is in part dependent on the quality of our resiliency planning, and our ability, if any, to anticipate the nature of any such event that occurs. The adverse impact of such occurrences also could be increased to the extent that there is a lack of preparedness on the part of international, national or regional emergency responders or on the part of other organizations and businesses that we deal with, particularly those that we depend upon but have no control over.

The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic continued to characterize Fiscal 2021, however the financial and operational impacts from COVID-19 on our business have been limited. Over the past year, we've monitored the situation and its impacts on our business but have ultimately seen trends stabilize, with continued recovery in U.S. markets due to large-scale vaccination programs. Management continues to assess the impact regularly but expects limited financial and operational impact through the upcoming fiscal year, should the COVID-19 pandemic persist. While the spread of COVID-19 may eventually be contained or mitigated, there is no guarantee that a future outbreak or any other widespread pandemics, epidemics or other health crises will not occur, or that the global economy will recover, either of which could seriously harm our business.

ITEM 1B.  UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2.  PROPERTIES

Our principal administrative, engineering, marketing and sales office is located in Toronto, Ontario, and consists of approximately 28,000 square feet. We lease satellite offices in various cities across the United States as well as internationally in Germany and Denmark. The Toronto, Ontario office supports all three of our segments. Leased satellite offices across the United States support the Fiber Internet Services segment, while European offices support Domain Services.

The Company has acquired real property in Centennial, Colorado where it has constructed an office, warehouse and data center to support our local logistical operations and our North American colocation needs. This property primarily supports the Fiber Internet Services segment. 

Currently, substantially all of our computer and communications hardware is located at our facilities or at server hosting facilities in Toronto, Ontario, San Jose, California, Centennial, Colorado and Ashburn, Virginia. 

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None.

ITEM 3.  LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

We are involved in various investigations, claims and lawsuits arising in the normal conduct of our business, none of which, individually or in aggregate in our opinion, will materially harm our business. We cannot assure you that we will prevail in any litigation. Regardless of the outcome, any litigation may require us to incur significant litigation expense and may result in significant diversion of management attention.

ITEM 4.  MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5.     MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Price Range of Common stock

Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “TCX”. Our common stock is also traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “TC”.

As of March 1, 2022, Tucows had 76 shareholders of record.

We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock during the fiscal years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, and we do not intend to do so in the immediate future, but we may decide to do so in the future depending on ongoing market conditions. Our ability to pay any cash dividends on our common stock, should our Board decide to do so, is also dependent on our earnings and cash requirements and may, from time to time, be governed by the terms of our credit agreements.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

Net Exercise of Stock Options:

Our current equity-based compensation plans include provisions that allow for the “net exercise” of stock options by all plan participants. In a net exercise, any required payroll taxes, federal withholding taxes and exercise price of the shares due from the option holder can be paid for by having the option holder tender back to the Company a number of shares at fair value equal to the amounts due.  These transactions are accounted for by the Company as a purchase and retirement of shares and are included in the table below as common stock received in connection with share-based compensation.

STOCK PERFORMANCE GRAPH

The following graph and table compares the Company's stock performance to three stock indices over a five-year period assuming a $100 investment was made on the last day of fiscal year 2016.

ITEM 6.           RESERVED.

ITEM 7.     MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

OVERVIEW

Our mission is to provide simple useful services that help people unlock the power of the Internet.

We accomplish this by reducing the complexity of our customers’ experience as they access the Internet (at home or on the go) and while using Internet services such as domain name registration, email and other Internet services. During the first quarter of 2021, the Company completed a reorganization of its reporting structure into three operating and reportable segments: Fiber Internet Services, Mobile Services and Domain Services. Previously, we disclosed two operating and reportable segments: Network Access Services and Domain Services. The change to our reportable operating segments was the result of a shift in our business and management structures that was initiated in 2020 and completed during the first quarter of 2021. The operations supporting what was previously known as our Network Access Services segment have become increasingly distinct between our mobile services (which includes both retail mobile MNVO based services and wholesale MSE services) and our fiber Internet services which were also included in our Network Access Services segment. We are now both organized and managed, and also report our financial results as three segments: Fiber Internet Services, Mobile Services and Domain Services. The three segments are differentiated primarily by their services, the markets they serve and the regulatory environments in which they operate.

Our principal place of business is located in Canada. We manage our business as three segments: Fiber Internet Services - which primarily derives revenue from Fiber Internet services and billing solutions to small ISPs, Mobile Services - which primarily derives revenues from three distinct service offerings including retail mobile services, platform services and professional services, and Domain Services - which derives revenue from three distinct service offerings including wholesale domain services, wholesale value added services and retail. To assist us in forecasting growth and to help us monitor the effectiveness of our operational strategies, our management regularly reviews revenues, cost of revenues, gross profit and adjusted EBITDA as a key measure of segment performance in order to gain more depth and understanding of the key business metrics driving our business. Effective January 1, 2022, our existing Mobile Services segment will be renamed to the communication service providers ("CSPs") Platform Services segment, and no longer include the 10-year payment stream on transferred legacy subscribers earned as part of the DISH Purchase Agreement as well as the retail sale of mobile phones, retail telephony services and transition services, all of which are not considered a part of our core business operations with the shift from MVNO to MSE. The renamed CSP Platform Services segment will continue to contain our MSE and professional services product offerings; since branded as Wavelo, as well as the billing solutions to Internet service providers (“ISPs”), that was previously reported under Fiber Internet Services segment. The Fiber segment will now only contain the operating results of our retail high speed Internet access operations, excluding the billing solutions moved to the new CSP Platform Services segment. The product offerings included in the Domain Services segment will remain unchanged.

For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, we reported revenue of $304 million, $311 million and $337 million, respectively.

Fiber Internet Services includes the provision of fixed high-speed Internet access services and other revenues, including billing solutions to small ISPs.

The Company also derives revenue from the sale of fixed high-speed Internet access, Ting Internet, in select towns throughout the United States, with further expansion underway to both new and existing Ting towns. Our primary sales channel of Ting Internet is through the Ting website. The primary focus of Ting Internet is to provide reliable Gigabit Internet services to consumer and business customers. Revenues from Ting Internet are all generated in the U.S. and are provided on a monthly basis. Ting Internet services have no fixed contract terms.

As of December 31, 2021, Ting Internet had access to 82,000 serviceable addresses and 26,000 active accounts under its management compared to having access to 56,000 serviceable addresses and 15,000 active accounts under its management as of December 31, 2020.

Mobile Services

Mobile Services includes the provision of Mobile Services Enabler ("MSE") platform and professional services, as well as the sale of retail mobile phone and retail telephone services for a small subset of retail customers.

Mobile Services were historically focused on providing mobile telephony services through our MVNO brand Ting Mobile. As mentioned above, on August 1, 2020 the Company sold substantially all of the customer relationships associated with Ting Mobile to DISH as part of the Purchase Agreement and now only retains a small subset of customers for which it continues to provide retail mobile services through the Ting Mobile brand. As part of the Purchase Agreement, the Company granted DISH the right to use and an option to purchase the Ting brand. Historically, we also operated other MVNO brands, ZipSim and Always Online Wireless (collectively referred to as the “Roam Mobility brands”). However, as a result of the developments in the economy and the heavily impacted business and leisure travel industries as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic early into Fiscal 2020, the Company was faced with considerable lack of demand for a SIM-enabled roaming service and decided to shut down the operations of the Roam Mobility brands, which was completed by September 30, 2020. Although we still provide retail mobile services to a small subset of customers retained from the Purchase Agreement, this service offering no longer represents the Company's strategic focus for Mobile Services going forward. Instead, we have transitioned away from a MVNO and towards a MSE, where we will focus on delivering a wide range of functions including billing, activation, provisioning, funnel marketing, and other professional services to mobile providers via our Mobile Platform. DISH is the first Tucows MSE customer.

Revenues from our retail mobile services, MSE platform and professional services are all generated in the U.S. and are provided on a monthly basis. Our MSE customer agreements have set contract lengths with the underlying Mobile Virtual Network Operator ("MVNO"). As part of the DISH Purchase Agreement, as a form of consideration for the sale of the customer relationships, the Company receives a payout on the margin associated with the legacy customer base sold to DISH. This has been classified as Other Income and not considered revenue in the current period.

Domain Services

Domain Services includes wholesale and retail domain name registration services, as well as value added services derived through our OpenSRS, eNom, Ascio, EPAG and Hover brands. We earn revenues primarily from the registration fees charged to resellers in connection with new, renewed and transferred domain name registrations. In addition, we earn revenues from the sale of retail domain name registration and email services to individuals and small businesses. Domain Services 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.

Our primary distribution channel is a global network of approximately 35,000 web hosts, ISPs and other resellers around the world who typically provide their customers, the end-users of Internet-based services, with solutions for establishing and maintaining an online presence. Our 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. Our services are integral to the solutions that our resellers deliver to their customers. We provide “second tier” support to our resellers by email, chat and phone in the event resellers experience issues or problems with our services. In addition, our Network Operating Center proactively monitors all services and network infrastructure to address deficiencies before customer services are impacted. We believe that the underlying platforms for our services are among the most mature, reliable and functional reseller-oriented provisioning and management platforms in our industry, and we continue to refine, evolve and improve these services for both resellers and end-users. Our business model is characterized primarily by non-refundable, up-front payments, which lead to recurring revenue and positive operating cash flow.

Wholesale, primarily branded as OpenSRS, eNom, EPAG and Ascio, derives revenue from its domain name registration service. Together the OpenSRS, eNom, EPAG and Ascio Domain Services manage 25.2 million domain names under the Tucows, eNom, EPAG and Ascio ICANN registrar accreditations and for other registrars under their own accreditations. Domains under management has decreased by 0.2 million domain names since December 31, 2020. The decrease is driven by lower renewal rates from the normalization of registration growth back to pre-pandemic levels, along with the continued erosion of registrations related to non-core customers from our eNom brand.

Value-Added Services include hosted email which provides email delivery and webmail access to millions of mailboxes, Internet security services, 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, ISPs, and other resellers around the world. In addition, we also derive revenue by monetizing domain names which are near the end of their lifecycle through advertising or 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. Our retail domain services also include our 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 now includes the sale of the rights to its portfolio of surname domains used in connection with our Realnames email service and our Exact Hosting Service, that provides Linux hosting services for individual and small business websites.

KEY BUSINESS METRICS AND NON-GAAP MEASURE

We regularly review a number of business metrics, including the following key metrics and non-GAAP measure, to assist us in evaluating our business, measure the performance of our business model, identify trends impacting our business, determine resource allocations, formulate financial projections and make strategic business decisions. Following the sale of substantially all of the Ting Mobile customers as part of the Purchase Agreement, we have ceased reporting Ting Mobile subscribers and accounts under management. The following tables set forth the key business metrics which we believe are the primary indicators of our performance for the periods presented:

Adjusted EBITDA

Tucows reports all financial information in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). Along with this information, to assist financial statement users in an assessment of our historical performance, we typically disclose and discuss a non-GAAP financial measure, adjusted EBITDA, on investor conference calls and related events that excludes certain non-cash and other charges as we believe that the non-GAAP information enhances investors’ overall understanding of our financial performance. Please see discussion of adjusted EBITDA in the Results of Operations section below.

OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES AND RISKS

Our revenue is primarily realized in U.S. dollars and a major portion of our operating expenses are paid in Canadian dollars. Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar may have a material effect on our business, financial condition and results from operations. In particular, we may be adversely affected by a significant weakening of the U.S. dollar against the Canadian dollar on a quarterly and an annual basis. Our policy with respect to foreign currency exposure is to manage our financial exposure to certain foreign exchange fluctuations with the objective of neutralizing some or all of the impact of foreign currency exchange movements by entering into foreign exchange forward contracts to mitigate the exchange risk on a portion of our Canadian dollar exposure. We may not always enter into such forward contracts and such contracts may not always be available and economical for us. Additionally, the forward rates established by the contracts may be less advantageous than the market rate upon settlement.

Fiber Internet Services

As an ISP, we have invested and expect to continue to invest in new fiber to the home (“FTTH”) deployments in select markets in the United States. The investments are a reflection of our ongoing efforts to build FTTH network via public-private partnerships in communities we identify as having strong, unmet demand for FTTH services. Given the significant upfront build and operational investments for these FTTH deployments, there is risk that future technological and regulatory changes as well as competitive responses from incumbent local providers, may result in us not fully recovering these investments.

The communications industry continues to compete on the basis of network reach and performance, types of services and devices offered, and price.

Mobile Services

The prior year sale of substantially all of the Company’s mobile customer base and pivot from MVNO to MSE was a strategic shift for our Mobile Services segment. At this time, DISH is our sole customer and represents 100% of our MSE platform and professional services revenues until such time that we are able to scale our services to other customers interested in our enablement services. With all our MSE platform and professional services revenues concentrated with one customer, we are exposed to significant risk if we are unable to maintain this customer relationship or establish new relationships in the future. Additionally, our revenues as an MSE are directly tied to the subscriber volumes of DISH's MVNO or MNO networks, so our profitability is contingent on the ability of DISH to continue to add subscribers onto our platform.

Additionally, as described above, the Company is entitled to a long-term payment stream that is a function of the margin generated by the transferred subscribers over the 10-year term of the DISH Purchase Agreement. This consideration structure may not prove to be successful or profitable in the long-term to us if the existing subscriber base churns at an above average rate. Additionally, given DISH controls the revenues and costs incurred associated with the acquired subscribers, there could arise a situation where profitability for the subscriber base is diminished either by lower price points or cost inflation.

As part of the transactions contemplated by the DISH Purchase agreement in the prior year, the Company retained a small number of customer accounts associated with one MNO agreement that was not reassigned to DISH at time of sale. We continue to be subject to the minimum revenue commitments previously agreed to with this excluded MNO agreement. The Company is able to continue adding customers under the excluded MNO network. However, with no direct ability to change customer pricing or renegotiate contract costs or terms, the Company may be unable to meet the minimum commitments with this MNO partner and could incur significant and recurring penalties until such a time that the contract is complete. These penalties would negatively impact our operational performance and financial results if enforced by the MNO.

Domain Services

The increased competition in the market for Internet services in recent years, which we expect will continue to intensify in the short and long term, poses a material risk for us. As new registrars are introduced, existing competitors expand service offerings and competitors offer price discounts to gain market share, we face pricing pressure, which can adversely impact our revenues and profitability. To address these risks, we have focused on leveraging the scalability of our infrastructure and our ability to provide proactive and attentive customer service to aggressively compete to attract new customers and to maintain existing customers.

Substantially all of our Domain Services revenue is derived from domain name registrations and related value-added services from wholesale and retail customers using our provisioning and management platforms. The market for wholesale registrar services is both price sensitive and competitive and is evolving with the introduction of new gTLDs, particularly for large volume customers, such as large web hosting companies and owners of large portfolios of domain names. We have a relatively limited ability to increase the pricing of domain name registrations without negatively impacting our ability to maintain or grow our customer base. Growth in our Domain Services revenue is dependent upon our ability to continue to attract and retain customers by maintaining consistent domain name registration and value-added service renewal rates and to grow our customer relationships through refining, evolving and improving our provisioning platforms and customer service for both resellers and end-users. In addition, we also generate revenue through pay-per-click advertising and the sale of names from our portfolio of domain names and through the OpenSRS Domain Expiry Stream. The revenue associated with names sales and advertising has recently experienced flat to declining trends due to the uncertainty around the implementation of ICANN’s New gTLD Program, lower traffic and advertising yields in the marketplace, which we expect to continue.

From time-to-time certain of our vendors provide us with market development funds to expand or maintain the market position for their services. Any decision by these vendors to cancel or amend these programs for any reason may result in payments in future periods not being commensurate with what we have achieved during past periods.

An in-depth assessment of the risk factors impacting our businesses has been discussed at length above in Part I under the caption "Item 1A Risk Factors" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The following is a discussion of our critical accounting policies and methods. Critical accounting policies are defined as those that are both important to the portrayal of our financial condition and results of operations and are reflective of significant judgments and uncertainties made by management that may result in materially different results under different assumptions and conditions. “Note 2 – Significant Accounting Policies” of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2021 (“Fiscal 2021”) included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report, includes further information on the significant accounting policies and methods used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. Management bases its estimates on historical experience, available market information as applicable, and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances at the time they are made. Under different assumptions or conditions, the actual results will differ, potentially materially, from those previously estimated. Many of the conditions impacting these assumptions and estimates are outside of the Company’s control. Management evaluates its estimates on an on-going basis. 

Contracts with multiple performance obligations

Our mobile platform service contract contains multiple performance obligations with DISH. We are required to allocate the transaction price between performance obligations - Mobile Platform Services and Professional Services, which impacts the timing of revenue recognition. We determine the stand-alone selling price of Mobile Platform Services using the residual method, which requires us to make estimates of future consideration earned during the entire term of the mobile platform service contract as well as the stand-alone selling price of Professional Services. Changes in assumptions could cause an increase or decrease in the amount of revenue that we report in a particular period.

Acquired customer relationships

For acquired customer relationships, the Company estimates the fair value based on the income approach.  The income approach is a valuation technique that calculates the fair value of an intangible asset based on the present value of future cash flows expected to be generated over the remaining useful life of the asset.  This valuation involves significant subjectivity and estimation uncertainty, including assumptions related to future revenues attributable to acquired customer relationships, attrition rates and discount rates.

Loss contingencies

We are sometimes subject to claims, suits, regulatory and government investigations, and other proceedings involving competition, intellectual property, privacy, tax and related compliance, labor and employment, commercial disputes, and other matters. Certain of these matters include speculative claims for substantial or indeterminate amounts of damages. We record a liability when we believe that it is probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated.

We evaluate, on a regular basis, developments in our legal matters that could affect the amount of liability that has been previously accrued, and the matters and related reasonably possible losses disclosed, and make adjustments and changes to our disclosures as appropriate. Significant judgment is required to determine both the likelihood and the estimated amount of a loss related to such matters. Until the final resolution of such matters, there may be an exposure to loss in excess of the amount recorded, and such amounts could be material.

Impairment of Goodwill and intangibles

We evaluate factors such as macro-economic, industry and market conditions including the capital markets and the competitive environment amongst others. We concluded that there were no indications of impairment under the qualitative approach. The analysis was consistent with the approach we utilized in our analysis performed in prior years.

Any changes to our key assumptions about our businesses and our prospects, or changes in market conditions, could cause the fair value of our operating segments to fall below its carrying value, resulting in a potential impairment charge. In addition, changes in our organizational structure or how our management allocates resources and assesses performance, could result in a change in our operating segments, requiring a reallocation and updated impairment analysis of goodwill and indefinite life intangible assets.

Changes in estimates

There were no material changes to our critical accounting estimates during Fiscal 2021. 

Revenue Recognition Policy

The Company’s revenues are derived from (a) the provisioning of retail fiber Internet services in our Fiber Internet Services segment, (b) the provisioning of wholesale mobile platform services, professional services and the provisioning of retail mobile services in our Mobile Services segment; and from (c) domain name registration contracts, other domain related value-added services, domain sale contracts, and other advertising revenue in our Domain Services segment. Amounts received in advance of meeting the revenue recognition criteria described below are recorded as deferred revenue. All products are generally sold without the right of return or refund.

Revenue is measured based on 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 19 – Segment Reporting” of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report for more information.

Fiber Internet Services derive revenues from providing Ting Internet to individuals and small businesses in select cities. In addition, we provide billing, provisioning and customer care software solutions to ISPs through our Platypus billing software. Ting Internet access 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. Since consideration is collected before the service period, revenue is initially deferred and recognized as the Company performs its obligation to provide Internet access.

Ting Internet 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 access customers is computed based on the customer’s activation date. In order to recognize revenue as the Company satisfies its obligations, we compute the amount of revenues earned but not billed from the end of each billing cycle to the end of each reporting period. In addition, revenues associated with the sale of Internet hardware to subscribers are recognized when title and risk of loss is transferred to the subscriber and shipment has occurred. 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 until contract inception unless the collection of the related accounts receivable is reasonably assured. The Company records costs that reflect 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. 

Retail Mobile Services

Ting Mobile wireless usage contracts grant customers access to standard talk, text and data mobile services. Ting Mobile contracts are billed based on the customer's selected rate plan, which can either be usage based or an unlimited plan. All rate plan options are charged to customers on a postpaid, monthly basis at the end of their billing cycle. As discussed previously, in the past fiscal year the Company sold substantially all of its retail mobile customer relationships, and mobile handset and SIM inventory to DISH and granted the right to use and option to purchase the Ting brand. The Company only retains a small subset of customers to which it continues to provide retail mobile services. All future revenues associated with Retail Mobile Services stream will only be for this subset of customers retained by Ting, Inc.

Ting Mobile 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 Mobile customers is computed based on the customer's activation date. In order to recognize revenue as the Company satisfies its obligations, we compute the amount of revenues earned but not billed from the end of each billing cycle to the end of each reporting period. In addition, revenues associated with the sale of wireless devices and accessories are recognized when title and risk of loss is transferred to the customer and shipment has occurred. Incentive marketing credits given to customers are recorded as a reduction of revenue.

As a form of consideration for the sale of the customer relationships, the Company receives a payout on the margin associated with the legacy customer base sold to DISH, over a period of 10 years. This has been classified as Other Income and not considered revenue in the current period.

Mobile Platform Services

Tucows' MSE platform provides network access, provisioning and billing services for MVNOs as well as a fixed number of professional service hours. Our MVNO customers are billed monthly, on a postpaid basis. The monthly fees are variable, based on the volume of their subscribers utilizing the platform during a given month, to which minimums may apply. Customers may also be billed fixed platform fees and granted fixed credits as part of the consideration for long-term contracts. Consideration received for MSE platform services is allocated to MSE services and professional services and recognized as each service obligation is fulfilled. Fixed fees for Mobile Platform Services are recognized into revenue evenly over the service period, while variable usage fees are recognized each month as they are consumed. Professional services revenue is recognized as the hours of professional services granted to the customer are used or expire. When consideration for Mobile Platform Services is received before the service is delivered, the revenue is initially deferred and recognized only as the Company performs its obligation to provide services. Likewise, if Mobile Platform Services are delivered before the Company has the unconditional right to invoice the customer, revenue is recognized as a Contract Asset.

Other Professional Services

This revenue stream includes any other professional services, including transitional services, earned in connection with Tucows' new MSE business. These are billed to our customers monthly at set and established rates for services provided in period. The Company recognizes revenue over this new revenue stream as the Company satisfies its obligations to provide professional services.

Wholesale - Domain Services

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.

Historically, our wholesale domain service has constituted the largest portion of our business and encompasses all of our services as an accredited registrar related to the registration, renewal, transfer and management of domain names. In addition, this service fuels other revenue categories as it often is the initial service for which a reseller will engage us, enabling us to follow on with other services and allowing us to add to our portfolio by purchasing names registered through us upon their expiration. We expect Domain services will continue to be the largest portion of our business and will continue to enable us to sell add-on services.

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.

Wholesale – Value-Added Services

We derive revenue from domain related value-added services like digital certifications, WHOIS privacy and hosted email and by providing 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.

We also derive revenue from other value-added services, which primarily consists of proceeds from the OpenSRS, eNom and Ascio domain expiry streams.

Retail

We derive revenues mainly from Hover and eNom’s retail properties through the sale of retail domain name registration and email services to individuals and small businesses. The retail segment now includes the sale of the rights to its portfolio of surname domains used in connection with our Realnames email and Linux hosting services for websites through our Exact Hosting brand.

For information about geographic areas, see “Note 19 – Segment Reporting” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report.

The excess of the purchase price over the fair values of the identifiable assets and liabilities from our acquisitions is recorded as goodwill. At December 31, 2021, we had $130.4 million in goodwill related to our acquisitions and $50.4 million in intangible assets comprised of indefinite life intangibles of $12.3 million and finite life intangible assets of $38.1 million. At December 31, 2020, we had $116.3 million in goodwill related to our acquisitions and $47.4 million in intangible assets comprised of indefinite life intangibles of $12.3 million and finite life intangible assets of $35.1 million. As described above, we report our financial results as three operating segments, Fiber Internet Services, Mobile Services and Domain Services. Eighty-three percent of goodwill relates to our Domain Services operating segment and 17% of goodwill relates to our Fiber Internet Services segment. Of our goodwill balance, $91.4 million is not deductible for tax purposes. Seventy-three percent of intangible assets relate to our Domain Services operating segment and 27% of intangible assets relate to our Fiber Internet Services segment.

Our indefinite life intangible assets consist of surname domain names and direct navigation domain names. In order to maintain our rights to these domain names, we pay annual renewal fees to the applicable domain name registries. Over the course of time, we sometimes decide not to renew certain under-performing domain names and incur an impairment charge associated with such non-renewal. There was no impairment recorded on indefinite-life intangible assets during 2021, 2020 and 2019.

We performed a qualitative assessment to determine whether there were events or circumstances which would lead to a determination, whether it is more likely than not, that goodwill and indefinite life intangible assets have been impaired. In performing the qualitative testing, we made an evaluation of the impact of various factors to the expected future cash flows attributable to our operating segments and to the assumed discount rate which would be used to present value those cash flows. Consideration was given to factors such as macro-economic, industry and market conditions including the capital markets and the competitive environment amongst others. We concluded that there were no indications of impairment under the qualitative approach. The analysis was consistent with the approach we utilized in our analysis performed in prior years.

In connection with business acquisitions that we have completed, we identify and estimate the fair value of net assets acquired, including certain identifiable intangible assets (other than goodwill) and liabilities assumed.  The determination of acquisition date fair values requires us to make significant estimates and assumptions regarding projected revenues, costs, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, attrition rates and discount rates.  Changes to these assumptions may result in material differences depending on the size of the acquisition completed.

We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in evaluating our uncertain tax positions and determining our provision for income taxes. We apply a two-step approach to recognizing and measuring uncertain tax positions. The first step is to evaluate the tax position for recognition by determining if on the weight of available evidence, it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of related appeals or litigation processes, if any. The second step is to measure the tax benefit that is more than 50% likely to be realized upon settlement.

Although we believe we have adequately reserved for our uncertain tax positions, no assurance can be given that the final tax outcome of these matters will not be different. We adjust these reserves in light of changing facts and circumstances, such as the closing of a tax audit or the refinement of an estimate based on new information that may become available. To the extent that the final tax outcome of these matters is different than the amounts recorded, such differences will impact the provision for income taxes in the period in which such determination is made.

As we account for income taxes under the asset and liability method, we recognize deferred tax assets or liabilities for the anticipated future tax effects of temporary differences between the financial statement basis and the tax basis of our assets and liabilities. We record a valuation allowance to reduce the net deferred tax assets when it is more likely than not that the benefit from the deferred tax assets will not be realized. In assessing the need for a valuation allowance, historical and future levels of income, expectations and risks associated with estimates of future taxable income and ongoing tax planning strategies are considered. In the event that it is determined that the deferred tax assets to be realized in the future would be in excess of the net recorded amount, an adjustment to the deferred tax asset valuation allowance would be recorded. This adjustment would increase income in the period that such determination was made. Likewise, should it be determined that all or part of a recorded net deferred tax asset would not be realized in the future, an adjustment to increase the deferred tax asset valuation allowance would be charged to income in the period that such determination would be made. At December 31, 2021, the valuation allowance of $13.5 million was related to foreign tax credits that we are not expected to realize, compared to $11.2 million at December 31, 2020.

On a periodic basis, we evaluate the probability that our deferred tax asset balance will be recovered to assess its realizability. To the extent we believe it is more likely than not that some portion of our deferred tax assets will not be realized, we will increase the valuation allowance against the deferred tax assets. Realization of our deferred tax assets is dependent primarily upon future taxable income. Our judgments regarding future profitability may change due to future market conditions, changes in U.S. or international tax laws and other factors. These changes, if any, may require possible material adjustments to these deferred tax assets, impacting net income or net loss in the period when such determinations are made.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

See “Note 2 – Significant Accounting Policies” of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report for information regarding recently issued accounting standards.

Current COVID-19 response and expected impacts

The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic continued to characterize Fiscal 2021, however the financial and operational impacts from COVID-19 on our business have been limited. Over the past year, we've monitored the situation and its impacts on our business but have ultimately seen trends stabilize, with continued recovery in U.S. markets due to large-scale vaccination programs. Management continues to assess the impact regularly but expects limited financial and operational impact through the upcoming fiscal year, should the COVID-19 pandemic persist. While the spread of COVID-19 may eventually be contained or mitigated, there is no guarantee that a future outbreak will not occur as evidenced by numerous variants of the virus emerging, including Omicron. Since the onset of this pandemic in 2020, all employees who could conceivably work from home were and continue to be encouraged to do so. Since then we have transitioned to defining ourselves as a remote-first organization, and for the small group of employees who are unable work from home, including our order fulfillment and Fiber installation teams, many of whom work in the field, they are encouraged to practice social distancing and to continue to follow hygiene best practices and safety protocols as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past year, the Ting Fiber Internet team established an installation solution for our employees and customers that minimizes risks associated with person-to-person contact and they continue to effectively deploy this installation solution currently. We have also implemented a vaccination policy requiring those employees who work from a Company office, meet in person with customers or travel by plane or train for business purposes to be fully vaccinated.

We have not experienced any productivity issues, material resource constraints nor do we foresee requiring any material expenditures to continue to implement our business continuity plans described above. Likewise, we have not experienced nor do we foresee any future impacts to our liquidity position, credit risk, internal controls or impacts to our accounting policies as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS FOR THE YEAR ENDED December 31, 2021 AS COMPARED TO THE YEAR ENDED December 31, 2020

NET REVENUES

Fiber Internet Services

Fiber Internet Services derive revenues from providing Ting Internet to individuals and small businesses in select cities. In addition, we provide billing, provisioning and customer care software solutions to ISPs through our Platypus billing software. Ting Internet access 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. Since consideration is collected before the service period, revenue is initially deferred and recognized as the Company performs its obligation to provide Internet access.

Ting Internet 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 access customers is computed based on the customer’s activation date. In order to recognize revenue as the Company satisfies its obligations, we compute the amount of revenues earned but not billed from the end of each billing cycle to the end of each reporting period. In addition, revenues associated with the sale of Internet hardware to subscribers are recognized when title and risk of loss is transferred to the subscriber and shipment has occurred. 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 until contract inception unless the collection of the related accounts receivable is reasonably assured. The Company records costs that reflect 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. 

Mobile Services

Mobile Services - Retail Mobile Services

Ting Mobile wireless usage contracts grant customers access to standard talk, text and data mobile services. Ting Mobile contracts are billed based on the customer's selected rate plan, which can either be usage based or an unlimited plan. All rate plan options are charged to customers on a postpaid, monthly basis at the end of their billing cycle. As discussed previously, in the past fiscal year the Company sold substantially all of its retail mobile customer relationships, and mobile handset and SIM inventory to DISH and granted the right to use and option to purchase the Ting brand. The Company only retains a small subset of customers to which it continues to provide retail mobile services. All future revenues associated with Retail Mobile Services stream will only be for this subset of customers retained by Ting, Inc.

Ting Mobile 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 Mobile customers is computed based on the customer's activation date. In order to recognize revenue as the Company satisfies its obligations, we compute the amount of revenues earned but not billed from the end of each billing cycle to the end of each reporting period. In addition, revenues associated with the sale of wireless devices and accessories are recognized when title and risk of loss is transferred to the customer and shipment has occurred. Incentive marketing credits given to customers are recorded as a reduction of revenue.

As a form of consideration for the sale of the customer relationships, the Company receives a payout on the margin associated with the legacy customer base sold to DISH, over a period of 10 years. This has been classified as Other Income and not considered revenue in the current period.

Mobile Services - Mobile Platform Services

Tucows' MSE platform provides network access, provisioning and billing services for MVNOs as well as a fixed number of professional service hours. Our MVNO customers are billed monthly, on a postpaid basis. The monthly fees are variable, based on the volume of their subscribers utilizing the platform during a given month, to which minimums may apply. Customers may also be billed fixed platform fees and granted fixed credits as part of the consideration for long-term contracts. Consideration received for MSE platform services is allocated to MSE services and professional services and recognized as each service obligation is fulfilled. Fixed fees for Mobile Platform Services are recognized into revenue evenly over the service period, while variable usage fees are recognized each month as they are consumed. Professional services revenue is recognized as the hours of professional services granted to the customer are used or expire. When consideration for Mobile Platform Services is received before the service is delivered, the revenue is initially deferred and recognized only as the Company performs its obligation to provide services. Likewise, if Mobile Platform Services are delivered before the Company has the unconditional right to invoice the customer, revenue is recognized as a Contract Asset.

Mobile Services - Other Professional Services

This revenue stream includes any other professional services, including transitional services, earned in connection with Tucows' new MSE business. These are billed to our customers monthly at set and established rates for services provided in period. The Company recognizes revenue over this new revenue stream as the Company satisfies its obligations to provide professional services.

Domain Services

Wholesale - Domain Services

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.

Historically, our wholesale domain service has constituted the largest portion of our business and encompasses all of our services as an accredited registrar related to the registration, renewal, transfer and management of domain names. In addition, this service fuels other revenue categories as it often is the initial service for which a reseller will engage us, enabling us to follow on with other services and allowing us to add to our portfolio by purchasing names registered through us upon their expiration. We expect Domain services will continue to be the largest portion of our business and will continue to enable us to sell add-on services.

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.

Wholesale – Value-Added Services

We derive revenue from domain related value-added services like digital certifications, WHOIS privacy and hosted email and by providing 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.

We also derive revenue from other value-added services, which primarily consists of proceeds from the OpenSRS, eNom and Ascio domain expiry streams.

Retail

We derive revenues mainly from Hover and eNom’s retail properties through the sale of retail domain name registration and email services to individuals and small businesses. The retail segment now includes the sale of the rights to its portfolio of surname domains used in connection with our Realnames email service and Linux hosting services for websites through our Exact Hosting brand.

The following table presents our net revenues, by revenue source:

The following table presents our revenues, by revenue source, as a percentage of total revenues:

Total net revenues for Fiscal 2021 decreased by $6.9 million, or 2%, to $304.3 million from $311.2 million for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 (“Fiscal 2021”). The overall decrease in revenue was primarily driven by the $18.2 million reduction of revenues attributable to our Mobile Services segment. This decrease in Mobile Services revenues was directly related to the DISH Purchase Agreement as well as the shutdown of Roam Mobility brands in the past year. As part of the DISH Purchase Agreement, as a form of consideration for the sale of the customer relationships, the Company receives a payout on the margin associated with the legacy customer base sold to DISH over the 10-year term of the agreement. This has been classified as Other Income and not considered revenue in the current period. This decrease in Mobile Services revenues was partially offset by a $8.0 million increase related to Fiber Internet Services revenues, a result of both growth in customers as we continue to build out our Ting Internet footprint as well as acquisition led revenue growth from our fourth quarter acquisition of Simply Bits. Additionally, smaller increases from Domain Services of $3.3 million also helped partially offset any revenue decreases in period, which was driven by outsized proceeds from our domain expiry revenue streams relative to the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020 ("Fiscal 2020"). 

Deferred revenue at December 31, 2021 decreased to $147.8 million from $152.2 million at December 31, 2020. This decrease was primarily driven by our Domain Services segment, accounting for $3.5 million of the decrease due to recognition of previously deferred billings for registrations and renewals growth experienced in Fiscal 2020 in connection with COVID-19. This decrease is followed by a decrease related to Mobile Services, accounting for $2.1 million of the decrease due to the recognition of previously deferred bundled and other professional services revenues. These professional services revenues were recognized as the Company performed its obligation to provide these services to DISH. These decreases were partially offset by an increase in deferred revenue associated with Fiber Internet Services of $1.1 million, which is reflective of the continued growth in customer base and billings for that segment relative to December 31, 2020. 

No customer accounted for more than 10% of revenue during Fiscal 2021 or during Fiscal 2020. As of December 31, 2021 DISH accounted for 46% of total accounts receivable and as at December 31, 2020, DISH accounted for 59% of total accounts receivable. 

Though a significant portion of the Company’s domain services revenues are prepaid by our customers, where the Company does collect receivables, significant management judgment is required at the time revenue is recorded to assess whether the collection of the resulting receivables is reasonably assured. On an ongoing basis, we assess the ability of our customers to make required payments. Based on this assessment, we expect the carrying amount of our outstanding receivables, net of allowance for doubtful accounts, to be fully collected.

Fiber Internet Services

Revenues from Ting Internet and billing solutions generated $26.4 million in revenue during Fiscal 2021, up $8.0 million or 43% compared to Fiscal 2020. This growth is driven by continued subscriber growth across our Fiber network relative to Fiscal 2021, as well as the continued expansion of our Ting Internet footprint to new Ting towns throughout the United States. Of this $8.0 million increase, $1.3 million related to our fourth quarter acquisition of Simply Bits.

As of December 31, 2021, Ting Internet had access to 82,000 serviceable addresses and 26,000 active accounts under its management compared to having access to 56,000 serviceable addresses and 15,000 active accounts under its management as of December 31, 2020. These figures exclude the increase in serviceable addresses and accounts attributable to the Simply Bits acquisition. 

Mobile Services

Retail Mobile Services

Net revenues from Retail Mobile Services for the Fiscal 2021, decreased by $37.1 million compared to Fiscal 2020, to $9.4 million. This decrease is a result of the significant changes to our Mobile Services segment that occurred during Fiscal 2020 as we transitioned from MVNO to MSE. These changes include both the shutdown of the Roam Mobility brands in the second quarter of 2020 followed by the sale of substantially all of the Ting Mobile customer base as part of the DISH Purchase Agreement. Ting Mobile accounts for substantially all of this decrease (of which $4.4 million is reduced device revenues and $31.4 million relates to service revenues), followed by Roam Mobility at $1.3 million of the total decrease.

The revenues earned from Retail Mobile Services for Fiscal 2021 is only reflective of the mobile telephony services and device revenues associated with the small group of customers retained by the Company from the sale of the historically larger Ting Mobile customer base to DISH. As mentioned above, the payout the Company receives from the aforementioned sale has been classified as Other Income and not considered revenue in the current period.

Mobile Platform Services

Net revenues from Mobile Platform Services for the Fiscal 2021, increased by $11.3 million compared to Fiscal 2020, to $11.9 million. This increase is a result of the new MSE business created as a result of the DISH Purchase Agreement in the past year. Only five months of comparable revenues existed during Fiscal 2020. Additionally, during Fiscal 2021 the net revenues recognized include both platform fee billings as well as revenues recognized from the previous deferral of bundled professional fees offered in connection with Mobile Platform Services. The Company has satisfied its obligations to provide any bundled professional services revenues recognized in the current period. Tucows' MSE platform provides network access, provisioning and billing services for MVNOs, of which DISH is currently our sole customer.

Other Professional Services

Net revenues from Other Professional Services for the Fiscal 2021, increased by $7.6 million compared to Fiscal 2020, to $11.0 million. Similar to above, this increase is a result of the new MSE business created as a result of the DISH Purchase Agreement in the past year.  Tucows' other professional services include both standalone technology services development work and other transitional services including sales, marketing, customer support, order fulfillment, and data analytics for MVNOs, of which DISH is currently our sole customer. During Fiscal 2021, we earned revenues for both provision of standalone technology services development work as well as a full year of transitional services. This is in contrast to Fiscal 2020 which was characterized by only five months of solely transitional services revenues.

Domain Services

Wholesale - Domain Services

During Fiscal 2021, Wholesale Domain Services revenue increased by $2.2 million or 1% to $189.1 million. The increase in revenue compared to Fiscal 2020 was primarily driven by the recognition of previously deferred billings from the past year, as discussed above in the change in deferred revenue. As more businesses established an online presence during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Fiscal 2020 we experienced domain name registration growth from our large volume resellers across our Domain Services brands. Fiscal 2021 was then characterized by a normalization of this COVID-19 registration growth back to historically experienced pre-pandemic levels as well as some erosion in renewal rates in the last half of the year. The increase in revenues from deferred revenue discussed above is offset by a small decrease in billings of $0.3 million, largely driven by our eNom brand which has seen continued decline in registrations by non-core customers relative to Fiscal 2020.  

Together the OpenSRS, eNom, EPAG and Ascio Domain Services manage 25.2 million domain names under the Tucows, eNom, EPAG and Ascio ICANN registrar accreditations and for other registrars under their own accreditations. Domains under management has decreased by 0.2 million domain names since December 31, 2020. The decrease is driven by lower renewal rates from the normalization of registration growth back to pre-pandemic levels, along with the continued erosion of registrations related to non-core customers from our eNom brand.

Wholesale - Value Added Services

Net revenues from value-added services increased by $2.4 million to $20.9 million compared to Fiscal 2020. The increase in value-added service revenue over Fiscal 2020 was primarily driven by an increase in expiry stream proceeds across our Domain Services brands. As a result of the normalization of renewal rates and domains under management discussed above in connection to COVID-19, Fiscal 2021 benefited from a significant volume of expired domain names registered in the past year being available for our expiry streams, which returned favorable proceeds at auction and drove our revenue growth for value added services.

Retail

Net revenues from retail decreased by $1.3 million to $35.5 million compared to Fiscal 2020. The decrease in revenue was primarily related to domain portfolio sales, which decreased by $0.9 million as a result of the Company disposing of its entire domain portfolio, excluding surname domains used in the RealNames email service during the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2020. This decrease was compounded by a $0.5 million decrease in retail domain name registrations from the erosion of retail customers away from our eNom Central brand. These decreases were partially offset by an increase in Exact Hosting revenues of $0.1 million. 

COST OF REVENUES

Fiber Internet Services

Cost of revenues primarily includes the costs for provisioning high speed Internet access, which is comprised of network access fees paid to third-parties to use their network, leased circuit costs to directly support enterprise customers, the personnel and related expenses (net of capitalization) related to the physical planning, design, construction and build out of the physical Fiber network and as well as personnel and related expenses (net of capitalization) related to the installation, repair, maintenance and overall field service delivery of the Fiber business. Hardware costs include the cost of equipment sold to end customers, including routers, ONTs, and IPTV products, and any inventory adjustments on this inventory. Other costs include field vehicle expenses, small sundry equipment and supplies consumed in building the Fiber network and fees paid to third-party service providers primarily for printing services in connection with billing services to ISPs.

Mobile Services

Retail Mobile Services

Cost of revenues for Retail Mobile Services includes the costs of provisioning mobile services, which is primarily our customers' voice, messaging, data usage provided by our Network Operator, and the costs of providing mobile phone hardware, which is the cost of mobile phone devices and SIM cards sold to our customers, order fulfillment related expenses, and inventory write-downs.

Mobile Platform Services

Cost of revenues, if any, to provide the MSE Platform services including network access, provisioning and billing services for MVNOs. This includes the amortization of any capitalized contract fulfillment costs over the period consistent with the pattern of transferring network access, provisioning and billing services to which the cost relates.

Other Professional Services

Cost of revenues to provide professional services, including transitional services, to our MVNO customers to help support their businesses. This includes any personnel and contractor fees for any client service resources retained by the Company. Only a subset of the Company's employee base provides professional services to our MVNO customers. This cost reflects that group of resources.

Domain Services

Wholesale - Domain Services

Cost of revenues for domain registrations represents the amortization of registry and accreditation fees on a basis consistent with the recognition of revenues from our customers, namely ratably over the term of provision of the service. Registry fees, the primary component of cost of revenues, are paid in full when the domain is registered, and are initially recorded as prepaid domain registry fees. This accounting treatment reasonably approximates a recognition pattern that corresponds with the provision of the services during the period. Market development funds that do not represent a payment for distinct goods or services provided by the Company, and thus do not meet the criteria for revenue recognition under ASU 2014-09, are reflected as cost of goods sold and are recognized as earned.

Wholesale - Value-Added Services

Costs of revenues for value-added services include licensing and royalty costs related to the provisioning of certain components of related to hosted email and fees paid to third-party hosting services. Fees payable for trust certificates are amortized on a basis consistent with the provision of service, generally one year, while email hosting fees and monthly printing fees are included in cost of revenues in the month they are incurred.

Retail

Costs of revenues for our provision and management of Internet services through our retail sites, Hover.com and the eNom branded sites, include the amortization of registry fees on a basis consistent with the recognition of revenues from our customers, namely ratably over the term of provision of the service. Registry fees, the primary component of cost of revenues, are paid in full when the domain is registered, and are recorded as prepaid domain registry fees and are expensed ratably over the renewal term. Costs of revenues for our surname portfolio represent the amortization of registry fees for domains added to our portfolio over the renewal period, which is generally one year, the value attributed under intangible assets to any domain name sold and any impairment charges that may arise from our assessment of our domain name intangible assets.

Network expenses

Network expenses include personnel and related expenses related to the network operations, IT infrastructure and supply chain teams that support our various business segments. It also includes network depreciation and amortization, communication and productivity tool costs, and equipment maintenance costs. Communication and productivity tool costs includes collaboration, customer support, bandwidth, co-location and provisioning costs we incur to support the supply of all our services.

The following table presents our cost of revenues, by revenue source:

The following table presents our cost of revenues, as a percentage of total cost of revenues for the periods presented:

Total cost of revenues for Fiscal 2021 increased by $0.3 million to $226.0 million, from $225.7 million in Fiscal 2020. The decrease was primarily driven by the $12.5 million of reduced costs attributable to our Mobile Services segment that was impacted by both the DISH Purchase Agreement and the shutdown of Roam Mobility brands in late Fiscal 2020. When compared to Fiscal 2020, the Mobile Services segment looks different as a result of our shift from MVNO to MSE. Both these factors contribute to Fiscal 2021 having significantly lower costs for the Mobile Services segment. This decrease in overall cost of revenues is partially offset by increases from Fiber Internet Services costs, Network Expenses costs as well as increases in Domain Services costs of $5.1 million, $7.6 million and less than $0.1 million, respectively. The increase from Fiber Internet Services is related to the continued expansion of both serviceable addresses and active subscriptions as well as the fourth quarter acquisition of Simply Bits. This is aligned with the discussion above in the Net Revenue section for this segment. The increase from Network Expenses is a result of the expansion of the Company’s increased network infrastructure associated with the continuing expansion of the Ting Fiber footprint and an increase in communication and productivity tool costs across our service lines. Domain Services costs of revenues increased as a result of recognition of registration costs from previously deferred billed costs related to the strong performance and additions to domains under management as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deferred costs of fulfillment as of December 31, 2021 increased by $1.6 million, or 1%, to $112.7 million from $111.1 million at December 31, 2020. This increase was primarily driven by Mobile Services, accounting for $3.4 million of the increase which is due to the increase in current period costs incurred in connection with the fulfillment of our MSE agreement and other professional services with DISH. This increase was partially offset by a decrease in deferred costs of fulfillment related to domain name registration and service renewals of $1.8 million, decreasing as registration costs are recognized from previously deferred billed costs from registrations driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Relative to COVID-19 pandemic levels, Fiscal 2021 was characterized by slowing growth in additions and renewals to domains under management, which has appropriately translated to less deferred costs of fulfillment for our Domain Services segment. Additionally, our Fiber Internet Services segment contributed to partially offset this overall decrease with an increase in deferred costs of fulfillment of less than $0.1 million relative to the past year. 

Fiber Internet Services

In Fiscal 2021, costs related to provisioning high speed Internet access and billing solutions increased $5.1 million, or 73%, to $12.1 million as compared to $7.0 million during Fiscal 2020. The increase in costs were primarily driven by increased direct costs and, bandwidth and colocation costs related to the continued expansion of the Ting Fiber network. Although directionally aligned with the experienced growth in revenue over the same period, the outpaced increase in cost of revenues for Fiber Internet services is a result of the necessary upfront investment and expenditure needed to build out the network in advance of anticipated revenue growth in any particular location. Of this $5.1 million increase, $0.4 million related to our fourth quarter acquisition of Simply Bits.

Mobile Services

Retail Mobile Services

Cost of revenues from Retail Mobile Services for Fiscal 2021 decreased by $16.9 million to $6.0 million, when compared to Fiscal 2020. The decrease is consistent with the above discussion around net revenues, and is a result of the significant changes to our Mobile Services segment that occurred during Fiscal 2020 as we transitioned from MVNO to MSE. Ting Mobile accounts for $16.1 million of this decrease (of which $5.2 million is reduced device costs and $10.9 million relates to reduced service costs), followed by Roam Mobility at less than $0.8 million of the total decrease. The cost of revenues incurred from Retail Mobile Services during Fiscal 2021 is only reflective of the mobile telephony services and device costs associated with the small group of customers retained by the Company from the DISH Purchase Agreement. The decline also included reduced minimum commitment charges which decreased by $0.3 million as compared to Fiscal 2020.

Mobile Platform Services

Cost of revenues from Mobile Platform Services for Fiscal 2021 increased by $0.3 million to $0.4 million, when compared to Fiscal 2020. The increase was the result of the new MSE business created as a result of the DISH Purchase Agreement in the past year.  Only five months of comparable cost of revenues existed during Fiscal 2020. Tucows' MSE platform provides network access, provisioning and billing services for MVNOs, of which DISH is currently our sole customer. Costs incurred represent the amortization of previously capitalized costs incurred to fulfill the DISH MSE agreement over the term of the agreement.

Other Professional Services 

Cost of revenues from Other Professional Services for Fiscal 2021 increased by $4.0 million to $7.0 million, when compared to Fiscal 2020. The increase was the result of the new MSE business created as a result of the DISH Purchase Agreement in the past year. Tucows' professional services include standalone technology services development and other transitional services including sales, marketing, customer support, order fulfillment, and data analytics for MVNOs, of which DISH is currently our sole customer. During Fiscal 2021, we incurred cost of revenues for both provision of standalone technology services development work as well as a full year of transitional services. This is in contrast to Fiscal 2020 which was characterized by only five months of solely transitional services cost of revenues. Costs incurred represent any personnel and contractor fees for any client service resources retained by the Company to provide either standalone technology services development work or transitional services to DISH.

Domain Services

Wholesale - Domain Services

Costs for wholesale domain services for Fiscal 2021 increased by $0.4 million to $147.2 million, when compared to Fiscal 2020. The increase is consistent with the above discussion around net revenues, where registration costs were recognized in Fiscal 2021 from previously deferred billed costs incurred from experienced domain name registration growth and domains under management in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. The overall increase was also impacted by decreases in current year billed costs from our eNom brand, which has seen a decline in registrations and domains under management in the current year, beyond the impacts of normalization from COVID-19 impacts. 

Wholesale - Value Added Services

Costs for wholesale value-added services for Fiscal 2021 decreased by $0.5 million to $2.5 million, when compared to Fiscal 2020. The decrease in cost of revenue is primarily related to decreases in Digital Certificates and other value added service costs compared to Fiscal 2020.

Retail

Costs for retail for Fiscal 2021 increased by less than $0.1 million, to $17.7 million, when compared to Fiscal 2020. The was driven by increased costs related to Exact Hosting and was partially offset by declining volume of retail domain name registrations related to the eNom retail brands. 

Network Expenses

Network costs for Fiscal 2021 increased by $7.7 million to $33.0 million when compared to Fiscal 2020. The comparative increase was primarily driven by both increased network costs and depreciation as a result of the expansion of the Company’s increased network infrastructure associated with the continuing expansion of the Ting Fiber footprint. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in impairment of property, plant and equipment, due to Fiscal 2020 including a $1.6 million impairment charge for Ting TV, a product formerly under development for Ting Internet. Additionally, Fiscal 2021 benefited from a decrease in amortization charges from the full amortization of the Ascio Technology intangible asset acquired in 2019.

SALES AND MARKETING

Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel costs. These costs include commissions and related expenses of our sales, product management, public relations, call center, support and marketing personnel. Other sales and marketing expenses include customer acquisition costs, advertising and other promotional costs.

Sales and marketing expenses for Fiscal 2021 increased by $5.2 million, or 15%, to $39.5 million when compared to Fiscal 2020. The increase in costs relate primarily to increased salaries and benefits driven by an expanding workforce and wage inflation focused on our Fiber Internet services teams, as well as increased marketing related costs to drive active subscription growth given the increase in serviceable addresses available to our Fiber Internet Services segment. In addition to this, we also experienced an increase in costs related to stock-based compensation expenses in an effort to attract and retain labor and an increase in facility costs increased directly related to the expansion of our Ting Fiber internet footprint and workforce in select Ting towns across the United States.

Excluding movements in exchange rates, we expect sales and marketing expenses for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 (“Fiscal 2022”) to increase in absolute dollars, as we adjust our marketing programs and sales and customer support personnel costs to support our Fiber Internet marketing and customer service needs.

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT

Technical operations and development expenses consist primarily of personnel costs and related expenses required to support the development of new or enhanced service offerings and the maintenance and upgrading of existing infrastructure. This includes expenses incurred in the research, design and development of technology that we use to register domain names, network access services, email, retail, domain portfolio and other Internet services, as well as to distribute our digital content services. All technical operations and development costs are expensed as incurred.

Technical operations and development expenses for Fiscal 2021 increased by $1.9 million, or 15%, to $14.3 million. The increase in costs relates primarily to increased spending on external contractors to provide development resources to assist our internal shared services and engineering teams with development aspects of the MSE platform. In addition to increased spending on external contractors, a slight increase in salaries and benefits driven by an expanding workforce and wage inflation focused on our shared services and engineering teams contributed to the overall increase in costs for the period along with stock-based compensation expenses to attract and retain labor

Excluding movements in exchange rates, we expect technical operations and development expenses for Fiscal 2022, in absolute dollars, to increase when compared to Fiscal 2021 to support the ongoing growth in our operations.

GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of compensation and related costs for managerial and administrative personnel, fees for professional services, public listing expenses, rent, foreign exchange and other general corporate expenses.

General and administrative expenses for Fiscal 2021 increased by $2.1 million, or 10%, to $22.4 million as compared to Fiscal 2020. The increase was primarily driven increases in personnel and related expenses as well as stock-based compensation expenses in order to attract, retain and scale core administrative teams including Human Resources and Finance to meet projected Company growth. Additionally, we experienced an increase in professional accounting and legal fees associated with our growing Fiber Internet segment. These increases were partially offset by reduced Mobile Services credit card fees as a result of the DISH Purchase Agreement that closed in the past year, as well as a decrease in facility related costs and foreign exchange expenses.

Excluding movements in exchange rates, we expect general and administrative expenses for Fiscal 2022, in absolute dollars, to increase when compared to Fiscal 2021 largely to support the growth of our business.

DEPRECIATION OF PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

Depreciation costs for Fiscal 2021 remained relatively flat at $0.5 million as compared to Fiscal 2020. The slight increase was due to the depreciation of additions to property and equipment, in particular computer hardware purchased in support of our expanding workforce.

LOSS (GAIN) ON DISPOSAL OF PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

Loss on disposal of property and equipment increased by $0.2 million to $0.2 million as compared to Fiscal 2020. The increase was a result of Fiscal 2021 including a disposal of minor internal use software for which the Company no longer expects to realize the initial use and intended benefit that it initially did when those development costs were initially capitalized. 

AMORTIZATION OF INTANGIBLE ASSETS

Amortization of intangible assets decreased $0.7 million for Fiscal 2021, to $9.4 million. The decrease is primarily driven by the write-off of Mobile Services related intangible assets in connection with the both the sale of the Ting Mobile customer base and the shutdown of Roam Mobility brands in Fiscal 2020.

Network rights, brand and customer relationships acquired in connection with the following acquisitions are amortized on a straight-line basis over a range of two to seven years: eNom in January 2017, Ascio in March of 2019, Cedar in January 2020 and Simply Bits in November 2021. 

IMPAIRMENT OF DEFINITE LIFE INTANGIBLE ASSETS

Impairment of definite life intangible assets for Fiscal 2021 was nil compared to $1.4 million in Fiscal 2020. The decrease is driven by the write-off of Roam Mobility brands customer relationships that were written off in Fiscal 2020 when the Company decided to shut down the related businesses as a result of lack of demand for SIM-enabled roaming services due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

LOSS (GAIN) ON CURRENCY FORWARD CONTRACTS

Although our functional currency is the U.S. dollar, a major portion of our fixed expenses are incurred in Canadian dollars. Our goal with regard to foreign currency exposure is, to the extent possible, to achieve operational cost certainty, manage financial exposure to certain foreign exchange fluctuations and to neutralize some of the impact of foreign currency exchange movements. Accordingly, we enter into foreign exchange contracts to mitigate the exchange rate risk on portions of our Canadian dollar exposure.

We have entered into certain forward exchange contracts that do not comply with the requirements of hedge accounting to meet a portion of our future Canadian dollar requirements through December 2021. During Fiscal 2021, the Company recorded a net gain of $0.3 million on the change in fair value of outstanding contract as well as realized matured contracts. In Fiscal 2020 the Company recorded a net gain of $0.4 million in the change in fair value of outstanding contract as well as realized matured contracts.

At December 31, 2021, our balance sheet reflects a derivative instrument asset of $0.3 million as a result of our existing foreign exchange contracts. Until their respective maturity dates, these contracts will fluctuate in value in line with movements in the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar.

OTHER INCOME (EXPENSES)

Other income increased by $11.2 million when compared to Fiscal 2020. This was driven by a $12.4 million increase due to the gain on sale of Ting Customer Assets to DISH. As described above, the Company receives a payout on the margin associated with the legacy customer base sold to DISH over the 10-year term of the agreement, as form of consideration for the sale of the legacy customer relationships. Comparatively, the gain in Fiscal 2020 represented the net effect of proceeds earned from DISH in regards to the legacy customer base of $11.1 million offset by the write off of certain Mobile intangible and contract assets totaling $3.5 million. This overall increase in other income was partially offset by higher interest expense from higher variable interest rates incurred on our Amended 2019 Credit Facility. Other expense consists primarily of the interest we incur in connection with our Amended 2019 Credit Facility. The interest incurred primarily relates to our loan balances obtained to fund the acquisition of eNom, Ascio, Cedar and Simply Bits and funding for expenditures associated with the Company’s Fiber to the Home build program.

INCOME TAXES

The following table presents our provision for income taxes for the periods presented:

We operate in various tax jurisdictions, and accordingly, our income is subject to varying rates of tax. Losses incurred in one jurisdiction cannot be used to offset income taxes payable in another jurisdiction. Our ability to use income tax loss carry forwards and future income tax deductions is dependent upon our operations in the tax jurisdictions in which such losses or deductions arise. Income taxes are computed using the asset and liability method, under which deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the difference between the financial statement carrying values and tax base of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income. Valuation allowances are established when necessary to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.

Income taxes decreased by $1.1 million and the effective tax rate increased from 46% to 54% when compared to Fiscal 2020. The increase in effective tax rate is primarily due to changes in blended tax rates and is partially offset by an increase in stock option benefit deduction. Our Fiscal 2021 income tax expense includes a tax recovery of $1.6 million related to the adoption of ASU 2016-09, which requires all excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies related to employee share-based payments to be recognized through income tax expense on a prospective basis. The Fiscal 2020 tax recovery related to excess tax benefits related to employee share-based compensation was $0.4 million.

In Fiscal 2021, the Company did not utilize the bonus depreciation with respect to its continued investment in the Ting Fiber business. Despite this, due to the reduction in tax rate to 21%, it is unlikely we will ultimately be able to fully claim the Fiscal 2021 foreign taxes paid in future years as a foreign tax credit. As such, we have taken a valuation allowance on foreign tax credits not utilized for 2021 income tax purposes, the net negative effect of which is a $2.3 million addition to income tax expense, as compared to $2.9 million additional tax expense in Fiscal 2020.

A reconciliation of the federal statutory income tax rate to our effective tax rate is set forth in “Note 9 – Income Taxes” of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report.

ADJUSTED EBITDA

We believe that the provision of this supplemental non-GAAP measure allows investors to evaluate the operational and financial performance of our core business using similar evaluation measures to those used by management. We use adjusted EBITDA to measure our performance and prepare our budgets. Since adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial performance measure, our calculation of adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies; and should not be considered in isolation, as a substitute for, or superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Because adjusted EBITDA is calculated before recurring cash charges, including interest expense and taxes, and is not adjusted for capital expenditures or other recurring cash requirements of the business, it should not be considered as a liquidity measure. See the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows included in the attached financial statements. Non-GAAP financial measures do not reflect a comprehensive system of accounting and may differ from non-GAAP financial measures with the same or similar captions that are used by other companies and/or analysts and may differ from period to period. We endeavor to compensate for these limitations by providing the relevant disclosure of the items excluded in the calculation of adjusted EBITDA to net income based on GAAP, which should be considered when evaluating the Company's results. Tucows strongly encourages investors to review its financial information in its entirety and not to rely on a single financial measure.

Our adjusted EBITDA definition excludes depreciation, amortization of intangible assets, income tax provision, interest expense (net), accretion of contingent consideration, stock-based compensation, asset impairment, loss on the disposal of Ting Mobile customer assets, gains and losses from unrealized foreign currency transactions and costs that are one-time in nature and not indicative of on-going performance (profitability), including acquisition and transition costs. Gains and losses from unrealized foreign currency transactions removes the unrealized effect of the change in the mark-to-market values on outstanding unhedged foreign currency contracts, as well as the unrealized effect from the translation of monetary accounts denominated in non-U.S. dollars to U.S. dollars.

The following table reconciles net income to adjusted EBITDA:

Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2021 decreased by $2.2 million, or 4% to $48.8 million when compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease in adjusted EBITDA from period-to-period was primarily driven by the increased investment in Ting Fiber due to the ramp of expenditures related to the Fiber network build and expansion plan. This decrease was partially offset by increased contributions from both Mobile Services due to the gain on sale of Ting Customer Assets earned as Other Income and new MSE Platform revenues growing in the current period and from Domain Services; due to strong performance in both Domain Services and Value added Services such as expiry revenues. When comparing Adjusted EBITDA in Fiscal 2020 to the year ended December 31, 2019 (“Fiscal 2019”), the lower contribution stemmed from the erosion of wholesale and retail registrations from our eNom brand as well as Mobile Services due to the sale of Ting Mobile customer relationships to DISH as well as the shutdown of Roam Mobility. The overall decrease in Adjusted EBIDTA in Fiscal 2020 was partially offset by an increased contribution from wholesale domain registrations from our OpenSRS and EPAG brands who experienced an increase in domains under management at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as more businesses moved online in early Fiscal 2020. The increase was also impacted by increased contribution from Ascio, with a full year of contribution in Fiscal 2020 relative to the stub period in Fiscal 2019 due to acquisition timing. Additionally, the acquisition of Cedar and continued expansion of the Ting Fiber network contributed to increased contribution from Fiber year-over-year. 

OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)

To mitigate the impact of the change in fair value of our foreign exchange contracts on our financial results, in October 2012 we begun applying hedge accounting for the majority of the contracts we need to meet our Canadian dollar requirements on a prospective basis. The impact of the fair value adjustment on outstanding hedged contracts for Fiscal 2021 was a net loss in other comprehensive income of $2.0 million compared to a net gain of $1.9 million for Fiscal 2020.

The following table presents other comprehensive income for the periods presented:

The impact of the fair value adjustments on outstanding hedged contracts during 2021 was a gain in OCI of $0.6 million as compared to a gain of $1.7 million during 2020. 

The net amount reclassified to earnings during 2021 was a loss of $2.6 million compared to a gain of $0.2 million during 2020. 

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS FOR THE YEAR ENDED December 31, 2020 AS COMPARED TO THE YEAR ENDED December 31, 2019

The Company has initially applied Accounting Standard Update (“ASU”) No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) on January 1, 2019, which was adopted using the modified retrospective basis. Accordingly, comparative figures have not been restated.

NET REVENUES

The following table presents our net revenues, by revenue source:

The following table presents our revenues, by revenue source, as a percentage of total revenues:

Total net revenues for Fiscal 2020 decreased by $25.9 million, or 8%, to $311.2 million from $337.1 million for Fiscal 2019. The overall decrease in revenue was primarily driven by the $34.1 million reduction of revenues attributable to our Mobile Services segment that was impacted by both the sale of the majority of the customer base of Ting Mobile to DISH Wireless on August 1, 2020 and the shutdown of Roam Mobility brands impacted by loss of mobile subscribers and reduced usage related to COVID-19 when compared to Fiscal 2019. As part of the DISH Purchase Agreement, as a form of consideration for the sale of the customer relationships, the Company receives a payout on the margin associated with the legacy customer base sold to DISH over the 10-year term of the agreement. This has been classified as Other Income and not considered revenue in Fiscal 2020. This decrease in revenues was offset by a $7.4 million increase related to Fiber Internet services revenues, driven by our acquisition of Cedar as well as through the expansion of our existing Ting Internet footprint. Additionally, smaller increases from Domain Services of $0.8 million also helped offset any revenue decreases in period, which was driven by an overall increase in domains under management relative to the prior year as more businesses established online presences due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deferred revenue from domain name registrations and other Internet services at December 31, 2020 increased to $152.2 million from $149.3 million at December 31, 2019, primarily due to current period billings for domain name registration and service renewals.

No customer accounted for more than 10% of revenue during Fiscal 2020 or during Fiscal 2019. As of December 31, 2020 DISH accounted for 59% of total accounts receivable and at December 31, 2019 no customer accounted for more than 10% of accounts receivable.

Though a significant portion of the Company’s domain services revenues are prepaid by our customers, where the Company does collect receivables, significant management judgment is required at the time revenue is recorded to assess whether the collection of the resulting receivables is reasonably assured. On an ongoing basis, we assess the ability of our customers to make required payments. Based on this assessment, we expect the carrying amount of our outstanding receivables, net of allowance for doubtful accounts, to be fully collected.

Fiber Internet Services

Revenues from Ting Internet and billing solutions generated $18.4 million in revenue during Fiscal 2020, up $7.4 million or 67% compared to Fiscal 2019. This growth is driven by the recent first quarter acquisition of Cedar. Cedar contributed $4.7 million of the increase in revenue during the current period, with $2.7 million related to the continued expansion of our Ting Internet footprint in new and existing Ting towns throughout the United States.

As of December 31, 2020, Ting Internet had access to 56,000 serviceable addresses and 15,000 active accounts under its management compared to having access to 36,000 serviceable addresses and 10,000 active accounts under its management as of December 31, 2019. These figures include the increase in serviceable addresses and accounts attributable to the Cedar acquisition.

Mobile Services

Net revenues from Mobile Services for Fiscal 2020, as compared to Fiscal 2019, decreased by $34.2 million or 40% to $50.5 million. This decrease is driven by a decline in Retail Mobile Services revenue, which decreased by $38.2 million compared to Fiscal 2019, to $46.5 million. Ting Mobile accounts for $35.0 million of this decrease (of which $2.0 million is reduced device revenues and $33.0 million relates to service revenues), followed by Roam Mobility at $3.1 million of the total decrease. The decline in Retail Mobile Services revenue is driven by the sale of substantially all of the Ting Mobile customer base on August 1, 2020 to DISH and the shutdown of Roam Mobility in Fiscal 2020. In addition to these changes, continued subscriber churn and reduced usage related to the COVID-19 pandemic for three full quarters in 2020 also resulted in lower revenues relative to Fiscal 2019. This decrease is offset by an increase in Mobile Platform services revenues by $0.6 million and Other Professional Services revenues by $3.4 million, both a result of the new MSE business created, for which DISH is currently the only customer. The current period only reflects seven months of retail mobile services revenue at the existing subscriber base of Ting Mobile, versus a complete twelve-month period in 2019. Subsequent to the sale to DISH, the Retail Mobile Services revenue relates to a small subset of customers retained by the Company. The consideration for the sale of the subscriber base to DISH is captured as Other Income in the current period and described below.

Domain Services

Wholesale - Domain Services

During Fiscal 2020, Wholesale domain services revenue increased by $3.9 million or 2% to $186.9 million. The increase in revenue compared to Fiscal 2019 was primarily driven by a $4.6 million increase in revenue related to the prior year acquisition of Ascio. In Fiscal 2020, Ascio revenues include a full year of earned revenue compared to the stub period of attributable revenue during Fiscal 2019. Additionally, we saw a further increase in Wholesale domain revenues of $5.2 million from our other domain services brands, namely OpenSRS and EPAG due to the increase in domains under management for these brands associated with an uptick in registrations through 2020 in connection with COVID-19. As more businesses establish an online presence during this time, we have seen growth from large volume resellers across these brands. This has had a marginal impact on revenue in the current period but will have a carryforward impact in subsequent periods as revenues are recognized from previously deferred billings. These increases were offset by a decrease of $5.9 million in Wholesale domain revenues related to our eNom brand, driven by continued decline in domain registrations by non-core customers relative to Fiscal 2019.

Together the OpenSRS, eNom, EPAG and Ascio Domain Services manage 25.2 million domain names under the Tucows, eNom, EPAG and Ascio ICANN registrar accreditations and for other registrars under their own accreditations. Domains under management has increased by 1.6 million domain names in Fiscal 2020 since December 31, 2019. The increase is driven by increased registrations experienced by our brands during the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw more businesses establish and expand their online presence, offset by the continued erosion of registrations related to non-core customers from our eNom brand.

Wholesale - Value Added Services

Net revenues from value-added services increased by $0.9 million to $19.8 million compared to Fiscal 2019. The increase in value-added service revenue over Fiscal 2019 was primarily driven by an increase in expiry stream revenue.

Retail

Net revenues from retail decreased by $0.5 million to $34.3 million compared to Fiscal 2019. The decrease in revenue was primarily driven by the erosion of retail customers away from our eNom Central brand.  Additionally portfolio revenues decreased by $3.5 million to $1.3 million compared to Fiscal 2019. This decrease was expected after the Company disposed of its entire domain portfolio in the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2019, excluding surname domains used in the RealNames email service. 

COST OF REVENUES

The following table presents our cost of revenues, by revenue source:

The following table presents our cost of revenues, as a percentage of total cost of revenues for the periods presented:

Total cost of revenues for Fiscal 2020 decreased by $10.7 million, or 5%, to $225.7 million from $236.4 million in Fiscal 2019. The decrease was primarily driven by the $18 million of reduced costs attributable to our Mobile Services segment. Consistent with above, Fiscal 2020 results included three full quarters of impact from loss of mobile subscribers and reduced usage related to COVID-19, in addition to the 2020 results including the sale of Ting Mobile customers and the shutdown of Roam Mobility. Both of these contributed to Fiscal 2020 results having significantly lower costs. Additionally, further decreases in domain name services of $1.8 million, related to continued erosion in Wholesale and Retail domain registrations by non-core customers primarily from our existing Domain Services brands, namely eNom. These decreases were offset by increased network expenses of $6.5 million and Fiber access costs of $3.1 million as a result of continued Fiber network expansion. The increase in network expenses included a $1.6 million impairment related to Ting TV, a product under development for Ting Fiber that was discontinued. These increased Fiber costs of revenues were driven by both our acquisition of Cedar as well as through the expansion of our existing Ting Internet footprint.

Prepaid domain registration and other Internet services fees as of December 31, 2020 increased by $1.9 million, or 2%, to $111.1 million from $109.2 million at December 31, 2019 primarily due to current period domain name registration and annual service renewals.

Fiber Internet Services

In Fiscal 2020, costs related to provisioning high speed Internet access and billing solutions increased $3.1 million, or 79%, to $7.0 million as compared to $3.9 million during Fiscal 2019. The increase in costs were primarily driven by increased direct costs and bandwidth costs related to the continued expansion of the Ting Fiber network, for both existing towns and cities as well as those acquired via the Cedar acquisition.

Mobile Services

Cost of revenues from Mobile Services for Fiscal 2020, as compared to Fiscal 2019, decreased by $18.4 million or 41% to $26.0 million. This is driven by decreased Retail Mobile Services costs of $21.5 million, of which $19.6 million relates to Ting Mobile (of which $2.3 million is reduced device costs and $17.3 million relates to service costs) and $1.9 million relates to Roam Mobility. Consistent with the above discussion around net revenues, the driving factors for these decreases from Fiscal 2019 are related to the sale of substantially all of the Ting Mobile customer base and the shutdown of Roam Mobility in Fiscal 2020. Residual Retail Mobile Services costs are also impacted by three quarters of the COVID-19 pandemic, characterized by a decline in mobile subscribers and reduced usage which translates into lower year-to-date costs. The decline also included reduced minimum commitment charges with network operators which decreased by $4.3 million compared to the Fiscal 2019. This decrease is partially offset by an increase of $3.0 million related to costs associated with Other Professional Services provided to DISH.

Domain Services

Wholesale - Domain Services

Costs for wholesale domain services for Fiscal 2020 decreased by $1.7 million to $146.8 million, when compared to Fiscal 2019. The decrease was primarily driven by a $6.1 million decrease in wholesale domain services costs associated with the erosion of domain registrations by non-core customers for our eNom brand. This decrease in eNom registrations was offset by increased Wholesale domain services costs of $4.3 million from our other wholesale brands, namely OpenSRS, EPAG and Ascio. The offsetting increase is largely a result of the acquisition of Ascio, where Ascio costs represent a full year in Fiscal 2020 compared to the stub period of attributable costs during Fiscal 2019. To a lesser extent any residual increase was a result of increased domains under management for OpenSRS as a result of COVID-19 impacts discussed above.

Wholesale - Value Added Services

Costs for wholesale value-added services for Fiscal 2020 increased by $0.2 million to $3.2 million, when compared to Fiscal 2019. The increase in cost of revenue is primarily related to an increase in certificate costs related to Ascio and increased Expiry sales compared to Fiscal 2019.

Retail

Costs for retail for Fiscal 2020 decreased by $0.1 million, to $17.0 million, when compared to Fiscal 2019. The decrease was a result of an overall declining volume of transactions related to the eNom retail brands.  Costs for portfolio decreased by $0.1 million for Fiscal 2020, to $0.5 million when compared to Fiscal 2019. This decrease was expected after the Company disposed of its entire domain portfolio in the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2019, excluding surname domains used in the RealNames email service. 

Network Expenses

Network costs for Fiscal 2020 increased by $6.5 million to $25.3 million when compared to Fiscal 2019. The comparative increase was primarily driven by depreciation as a result of the expansion of the Company’s increased network infrastructure associated with the continuing expansion of the Ting Fiber footprint, inclusive of $0.7 million related to the Cedar acquisition. In addition to these Fiber network increases, the second quarter of 2020 included a $1.6 million impairment related to Ting TV, a product under development for Ting Fiber.

SALES AND MARKETING

Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel costs. These costs include commissions and related expenses of our sales, product management, public relations, call center, support and marketing personnel. Other sales and marketing expenses include customer acquisition costs, advertising and other promotional costs.

Sales and marketing expenses for Fiscal 2020 remained flat at $34.3 million when compared to Fiscal 2019. Although the Company initially forecasted an increase in sales and marketing expenses for Fiscal 2020, the sale of substantially all of the Ting Mobile customer base and the shutdown of Roam Mobility through the latter half of Fiscal 2020 effectively offset any increases in expenditure seen from the Cedar and Ascio acquisitions or the continued build out of the Ting Fiber network.

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT

Technical operations and development expenses consist primarily of personnel costs and related expenses required to support the development of new or enhanced service offerings and the maintenance and upgrading of existing infrastructure. This includes expenses incurred in the research, design and development of technology that we use to register domain names, network access services, email, retail, domain portfolio and other Internet services, as well as to distribute our digital content services. Editorial costs relating to the rating and review of the software content libraries are included in the costs of product development. All technical operations and development costs are expensed as incurred

Technical operations and development expenses for Fiscal 2020 increased by $2.7 million, or 28%, to $12.4 million. The increase in costs relates primarily to increased salaries and benefits driven by an expanding workforce and wage inflation focused on our shared services and engineering teams of $2.3 million, as well as increased spending related to contract and outsourcing spends to aid in platform development efforts across our business lines of $0.4 million. Additionally, Fiscal 2020 reflected a full year of people costs related to the workforce acquired in the Ascio acquisition, as compared to a stub period of costs in Fiscal 2019.

GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of compensation and related costs for managerial and administrative personnel, fees for professional services, public listing expenses, rent, foreign exchange and other general corporate expenses.

General and administrative expenses for Fiscal 2020 increased by $2.4 million, or 13%, to $20.3 million as compared to Fiscal 2019. The increase was primarily driven by an increase in people costs of $1.5 million, an increase in foreign exchange expense of $1.4 million, and an increase in professional fees of $0.6 million in connection with the sale of the Ting Mobile customer relationships to DISH. These increases in general and administrative expenses were offset by a decrease in both credit card fees and bad debts associated with the Mobile Services business, in the amounts of $0.8 million and $0.2 million, respectively. Additionally, the current year saw a decrease in transitional costs related to Ascio and eNom of $0.2 million and $0.2 million, respectively.

DEPRECIATION OF PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

Depreciation costs for Fiscal 2020 remained flat at $0.5 million for Fiscal 2019.

LOSS (GAIN) ON DISPOSAL OF PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

Loss (gain) on disposal of property and equipment decreased $0.1 million in Fiscal 2020. The decrease was a result of Fiscal 2019 including equipment disposal from the former Kirkland, Washington office. The Company saw a small gain in the current year on the disposition of property and equipment from the shutdown of the St. Catharines, Ontario office.

AMORTIZATION OF INTANGIBLE ASSETS

Amortization of intangible assets increased $0.9 million for Fiscal 2020, to $10.1 million. The increase is primarily driven by the acquisition of Cedar as well as a full year's worth of amortization of acquired Ascio intangible assets for which Fiscal 2019 represented a stub period.

Network rights, brand and customer relationships acquired in connection with the following acquisitions are amortized on a straight-line basis over a range of two to seven years: eNom in January 2017, Ascio in March of 2019, and Cedar in January 2020. As discussed above, the balance of the Roam Mobility brands was fully impaired as at June 30, 2020 as part of shutdown of the Roam brands. This is reflected below in the impairment of definite life intangible assets of $1.4 million.

IMPAIRMENT OF DEFINITE LIFE INTANGIBLE ASSETS

Impairment of definite life intangible assets for Fiscal 2020 was $1.4 million as compared to nil in Fiscal 2019. The increase is driven by the write-off of customer relationships acquired in connection with our Roam Mobility Brands. As discussed above, Roam Mobility saw a decline in mobile subscribers and reduced usage related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As at June 30, 2020, the Company decided to shut down the Roam Mobility brands and related business as a result of this lack of demand for SIM-enabled roaming services due to the continued decrease of both business and leisure travel caused by the pandemic. As part of that shut down, the associated customer relationships previously acquired were written off in period.

LOSS (GAIN) ON CURRENCY FORWARD CONTRACTS

Although our functional currency is the U.S. dollar, a major portion of our fixed expenses are incurred in Canadian dollars. Our goal with regard to foreign currency exposure is, to the extent possible, to achieve operational cost certainty, manage financial exposure to certain foreign exchange fluctuations and to neutralize some of the impact of foreign currency exchange movements. Accordingly, we enter into foreign exchange contracts to mitigate the exchange rate risk on portions of our Canadian dollar exposure.

We have entered into certain forward exchange contracts that do not comply with the requirements of hedge accounting to meet a portion of our future Canadian dollar requirements through December 2020. During Fiscal 2020, the Company recorded a net gain of $0.5 million on the change in fair value of outstanding contract as well as a $0.1 million realized loss on matured contracts. In Fiscal 2019 the Company recorded a net gain of $0.3 million in the change in fair value of outstanding contracts as well as a $0.1 million realized loss on matured contracts.

At December 31, 2020, our balance sheet reflects a derivative instrument asset of $3.9 million as a result of our existing foreign exchange contracts. Until their respective maturity dates, these contracts will fluctuate in value in line with movements in the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar.

OTHER INCOME AND (EXPENSES)

Other income increased by $8.6 million when compared to Fiscal 2019. This was primarily due to the $7.6 million increase due to the gain on sale of Ting customer assets to DISH in the current period. This gain represented the net effect of proceeds earned from DISH in regards to the legacy customer base of $11.1 million offset by the write off of certain Mobile intangible and contract assets totaling $3.5 million. In addition to this, another contributing factor in the increase was lower interest incurred on our Amended 2019 Credit Facility, obtained to fund the acquisition of eNom, Ascio and Cedar and funding for expenditures associated with the Company’s Fiber to the Home program.

INCOME TAXES

The following table presents our provision for income taxes for the periods presented:

We operate in various tax jurisdictions, and accordingly, our income is subject to varying rates of tax. Losses incurred in one jurisdiction cannot be used to offset income taxes payable in another jurisdiction. Our ability to use income tax loss carry forwards and future income tax deductions is dependent upon our operations in the tax jurisdictions in which such losses or deductions arise. Income taxes are computed using the asset and liability method, under which deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the difference between the financial statement carrying values and tax base of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income. Valuation allowances are established when necessary to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.

Fiscal 2020 includes tax on profits of $10.8 million compared to $24.6 million for Fiscal 2019. Our Fiscal 2020 income tax expense includes a tax expense of less than $0.1 million related to the adoption of ASU 2016-09, which requires all excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies related to employee share-based payments to be recognized through income tax expense on a prospective basis. The Fiscal 2019 tax recovery related to excess tax benefits related to employee share-based compensation was $0.6 million. On December 22, 2017, the Act was signed into law making significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code. Changes include, but are not limited to, a federal corporate tax rate decrease from 35% to 21% for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, the transition of U.S. international taxation from a worldwide tax system to a territorial system, bonus depreciation that will allow for full expensing of qualified property, and a one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of foreign earnings.

In Fiscal 2020, the Company did not utilize the bonus depreciation with respect to its continued investment in the Ting Internet business. Despite this, due to the reduction in tax rate to 21%, it is unlikely we will ultimately be able to fully claim the Fiscal 2020 foreign taxes paid in future years as a foreign tax credit. As such, we have taken a valuation allowance on foreign tax credits not utilized for 2020 income tax purposes and net operating losses not expected to be utilized in the future, the net negative effect of which is a $2.9 million addition to income tax expense, as compared to $5.3 million additional tax expense in Fiscal 2019.

A reconciliation of the federal statutory income tax rate to our effective tax rate is set forth in “Note 9 – Income Taxes” of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report.

OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)

To mitigate the impact of the change in fair value of our foreign exchange contracts on our financial results, in October 2012 we begun applying hedge accounting for the majority of the contracts we need to meet our Canadian dollar requirements on a prospective basis. The impact of the fair value adjustment on outstanding hedged contracts for Fiscal 2020 was a net gain in other comprehensive income of $1.9 million compared to a net gain of $1.3 million for Fiscal 2019.

The following table presents other comprehensive income for the periods presented: 

The impact of the fair value adjustments on outstanding hedged contracts during 2020 was a gain in OCI of $1.7 million as compared to a loss of $1.1 million during 2019.

The net amount reclassified to earnings during 2020 was a loss of $0.2 million compared to a loss of $0.2 million during 2019.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2021, our cash and cash equivalents balance increased $0.8 million when compared to December 31, 2020. Our principal uses of cash were $73.9 million for the continued investment in property, equipment and intangible assets, $24.0 million for the acquisition of Simply Bits, $2.5 million for the acquisition of Uniregistry, $2.0 million related to an investment in an unrelated entity, and $0.7 million of other costs, including tax payment associated with stock option exercises and loan payable costs. These uses of cash were offset by cash provided by operating activities of $29.6 million, advances of $69 million from our Second Amended 2019 Credit Facility (as defined below), $4.8 million of proceeds received on exercise of stock options, and $0.5 million from proceeds on disposal of property and equipment. 

Amended 2019 Credit Facility

On June 14, 2019, the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Tucows.com Co., Ting Fiber, Inc., Ting Inc., Tucows (Delaware) Inc. and Tucows (Emerald), LLC, entered into an Amended and Restated Senior Secured Credit Agreement with Royal Bank of Canada (“RBC”), as administrative agent, and lenders party thereto (collectively with RBC, the “Lenders”) under which the Company has access to an aggregate of up to $240 million in funds, which consists of $180 million guaranteed credit facility and a $60 million accordion facility.  In connection with the Amended 2019 Credit Facility, the Company incurred an additional $0.3 million of fees paid to lenders and $0.2 million of legal fees related to the debt issuance. Of these fees, $0.4 million are debt issuance costs, which have been reflected as a reduction to the carrying amount of the loan payable and will be amortized over the term of the credit facility agreement and $0.1 million have been recorded in General and administrative expenses. On November 27, 2019, the Company entered into Amending Agreement No. 1 to the Amended and Restated Senior Secured Credit Agreement (collectively with the Amended and Restated Senior Secured Credit Agreement, the “Amended 2019 Credit Facility”) to amend certain defined terms in connection with the Cedar acquisition.

The Amended 2019 Credit Facility replaced a secured Credit Agreement dated January 20, 2017 with Bank of Montreal, RBC and Bank of Nova Scotia.

The obligations of the Company under the Amended 2019 Credit Agreement are secured by a first priority lien on substantially all of the personal property and assets of the Company and has a four-year term, maturing on June 13, 2023.

Second Amended 2019 Credit Facility

On October 26, 2021, the Company entered into a Second Amended and Restated Senior Secured Credit Agreement (the “Second Amended 2019 Credit Agreement”) with the Lenders and Toronto-Dominion Bank (collectively the “New Lenders”) to, among other things, increase the existing revolving credit facility from $180 million to $240 million. The Amended Credit Agreement provides the Company with access to an aggregate of $240 million in committed funds. Under the Amended Credit Agreement, the Company has agreed to comply with the following financial covenants at all times, which are to be calculated on a rolling four quarter basis: (i) maximum Total Funded Debt to Adjusted EBITDA Ratio of 4.50:1.00 until March 31, 2023 and 4.00:1.00 thereafter; and (ii) minimum Interest Coverage Ratio of 3.00:1.00. The Amended Credit Agreement also provides for two additional interest rate tiers if the Company exceeds a 3.50x Total Funded Debt to Adjusted EBITDA Ratio.

As of December 31, 2021, the Company held contracts in the amount of $25.2 million with BMO to trade U.S. dollars in exchange for Canadian dollars under an uncommitted treasury risk management facility which assists the Company with hedging Canadian dollar exposures.

Cash Flow from Operating Activities

Year ended December 31, 2021

Net cash inflows from operating activities were $29.6 million, a decrease of 18% when compared to the prior year. Net income, after adjusting for non-cash charges, during Fiscal 2021 was $31.6 million, a decrease of 12% when compared to the prior year. Net income included non-cash charges and recoveries of $28.3 million such as depreciation, amortization, impairment of indefinite life intangible asset, loss on write-off of property and equipment, write-down on disposal of Ting Mobile customer assets and contract costs, excess tax benefits on stock-based compensation, stock-based compensation, the provision for unrealized losses on currency forward contracts and a recovery for deferred tax. This generation of cash from net income was reduced by a working capital change of $2.0 million. We generated $11.1 million from movements in accounts receivable, accounts payable, accrued liabilities, and customer deposits. These positive contributions were offset by cash use of $13.1 million from deferred revenue, prepaid expenses and deposits, deferred costs of fulfillment, income taxes recoverable, contract asset, inventory, and accreditation fees payable. 

Year ended December 31, 2020

Net cash inflows from operating activities were $36.1 million, a decrease of 11% when compared to the prior year. Net income, after adjusting for non-cash charges, during Fiscal 2020 was $36.0 million, a decrease of 6% when compared to the prior year. Net income included non-cash charges and recoveries of $30.2 million such as depreciation, amortization, impairment of indefinite life intangible asset, loss on write-off of property and equipment, write-down on disposal of Ting Mobile customer assets and contract costs, excess tax benefits on stock-based compensation, stock-based compensation, the provision for unrealized losses on currency forward contracts and a recovery for deferred tax. This generation of cash from net income was further increased by a working capital change of $0.1 million. We generated $6.7 million from movements in inventory, income taxes recoverable, accrued liabilities, customer deposits and deferred revenue. These positive contributions were offset by cash use of $6.6 million to invest in accounts receivable, prepaid expenses and deposits, deferred costs of fulfillment, accounts payable, and accreditation fees.

Year ended December 31, 2019

Net cash inflows from operating activities were $40.4 million, an increase of 9% when compared to the prior year. Net income, after adjusting for non-cash charges, during Fiscal 2019 was $38.4 million, an increase of 8% when compared to the prior year. Net income included non-cash charges and recoveries of $23.0 million such as depreciation, amortization, impairment of indefinite life intangible asset, excess tax benefits on stock-based compensation, stock-based compensation, the provision for unrealized losses on currency forward contracts and a recovery for deferred tax. This generation of cash from net income was further increased by a working capital change of $2.0 million. We generated $13.3 million from movements in inventory, prepaid registration costs, prepaid expenses and deposits, accrued liabilities and customer deposits. These positive contributions were offset by cash use of $11.3 million to invest in accounts receivable, deferred revenue, income taxes recoverable, accounts payable, and accreditation fees.

Cash Flow from Financing Activities

Year ended December 31, 2021

Net cash inflows from financing activities during Fiscal 2021 totaled $73.1 million as compared to cash inflows of $5.1 million during Fiscal 2020. Net cash inflows of $69 million resulting from draws on the Second Amended 2019 Credit Facility and $4.8 million from proceeds received on the exercise of stock options. These cash inflows were partially offset by $0.4 million outflow from the net impact of exercise of stock options and $0.3 million of loan costs.

Year ended December 31, 2020

Net cash inflows from financing activities during Fiscal 2020 totaled $5.1 million as compared to cash inflows of $43.5 million during Fiscal 2019. Net cash inflows of $8.0 million resulting from draws on the Second Amended 2019 Credit Facility and $1.0 million from proceeds received on the exercise of stock options. These cash inflows were partially offset by $3.3 million outflow for stock repurchases, $0.6 million outflow from the net impact of exercise of stock options and $0.1 million of loan costs.

Year ended December 31, 2019

Net cash inflows from financing activities during Fiscal 2019 totaled $43.5 million as compared to cash outflows of $12.9 million during Fiscal 2018. Net cash inflows of $57.4 million resulting from draws on the Second Amended 2019 Credit Facility to fund the FTTH capital expenditures, the acquisition of Ascio and general working capital requirements. These cash inflows were partially offset by outflows of $8.1 million of principal repayments relating to our 2019 Credit Amended Credit Facility, $5.0 million in stock repurchases, $0.6 million of loan costs and $0.2 million outflow from the net impact of exercise of stock options.

Cash Flow from Investing Activities

Year ended December 31, 2021

Investing activities during the Fiscal 2021 used net cash of $102.0 million as compared to using $53.3 million during Fiscal 2020. Cash outflows of $73.9 million related to the investment in property, equipment and intangible assets, primarily to support the continued expansion of our fiber footprint. The Company continues to invest in our existing Ting Towns of Centennial, Colorado, Charlottesville, Virginia, Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Holly Springs, North Carolina, Sandpoint, Idaho, Rolesville, North Carolina and Culver City, California as we seek to extend both our current network and expand to new markets. We expect our capital expenditures on building and expanding our fiber network to continue to increase during Fiscal 2022. In addition to investment in property, equipment and intangible assets, the current period used $24 million in connection with the acquisition of Simply Bits, used $2.5 million in connection with the acquisition of Uniregistry and used $2.0 million for an investment in an unrelated entity. These cash outflows were partially offset by $0.5 million from proceeds on disposal of property and equipment.

Year ended December 31, 2020

Investing activities during the Fiscal 2020 used net cash of $53.3 million as compared to using $76.1 million during Fiscal 2019. Cash outflows of $44.5 million related to the investment in property, equipment and intangible assets, primarily to support the continued expansion of our fiber footprint. In addition, the Company used $8.8 million in connection with the acquisition of Cedar. The Company continues to invest in our existing Ting Towns of Centennial, Colorado, Charlottesville, Virginia, Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Holly Springs, North Carolina, and Sandpoint, Idaho as well ramping construction in Roaring Fork, Colorado, Rolesville, North Carolina, and Culver City, California, as we seek to extend both our current network and expand to new towns. We expect our capital expenditures on building and expanding our fiber network to continue to increase significantly during Fiscal 2021.

Year ended December 31, 2019

Investing activities during the Fiscal 2019 used net cash of $76.1 million as compared to using $29.7 million during Fiscal 2018. Cash outflows of $28.5 million related to the acquisition of Ascio Technologies, Inc., $3.6 million related to the acquisition of intangible assets, of which $3.5 million related to the acquisition of mobile subscribers of the FreedomPop and Unreal MVNO brands, and $44.1 million of cash outflows was invested in property and equipment, primarily to support the continued expansion of our fiber footprint. The Company continues to invest in our existing Ting Towns of Charlottesville, Virginia, Holly Springs, North Carolina and Westminster, Maryland as well ramping construction in Sandpoint, Idaho, Centennial, Colorado, and Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, as we seek to extend both our current network and expand to new towns. We expect our capital expenditures on building and expanding our fiber network to continue to increase significantly during Fiscal 2019.

We may need additional funds or seek other financing arrangements to facilitate more rapid expansion, develop new or enhance existing products or services, respond to competitive pressures or acquire or invest in complementary businesses, technologies, services or products. We may also evaluate potential acquisitions of other businesses, products and technologies. We currently have no commitments or agreements regarding the acquisition of other businesses. If additional financing is required, we may need additional equity or debt financing and any additional financing may be dilutive to existing investors. We may not be able to raise funds on acceptable terms, or at all.

Off Balance Sheet Arrangements

We did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2021.

Material Cash Requirements

The Company’s material cash requirements include the following contractual and other obligations.

Debt

As of December 31, 2021, the Company’s Second Amended 2019 Credit Facility had an outstanding balance of $191.4 million. There are no scheduled principal repayments within 12 months. As of December 31, 2021, the Company has entered into floating-to-fixed interest rate swap instruments with a notional value of $70 million. Future interest payments associated with the Second Amended 2019 Credit Facility are estimated to total $10.4 million, with $6.9 million payable within 12 months using current interest rates, net of our interest rate swaps. See Note 8 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for information regarding the terms of the Second Amended Credit Facility.

Leases

The Company has lease arrangements for certain Internet infrastructure, data center space and corporate facilities. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had fixed lease payment obligations of $16.7 million, with $3.5 million payable within 12 months.

Other Expenditures

We have entered into purchase obligations of $12.2 million to be settled in fiscal 2022, which are related to the Company's ongoing operations. Other than operating expenses, cash requirements for fiscal 2022 are expected to consist primarily of fiber network capital expenditures to expand our footprint in new and existing Ting towns. Total fiber network capital expenditures for fiscal 2022 are expected to double from 2021 to approximately $130 million, of which $21.5 million are subject to purchase obligations. Other than the $21.5 million purchase obligations, the Company’s remaining planned capital expenditures are discretionary in nature. In order to fund the discretionary portion of capital expenditures, the Company will seek alternative sources of financing, which could include but are not limited to additional financing arrangements beyond the Company’s current revolving credit facility as well as private or public share offerings. 

ITEM 7A.  QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

We develop products in Canada and sell these services in North America and Europe. Our sales are primarily made in U.S. dollars, while a major portion of expenses are incurred in Canadian dollars. Our financial results could be affected by factors such as changes in foreign currency exchange rates or weak economic conditions in foreign markets. Our interest income is sensitive to changes in the general level of Canadian and U.S. interest rates, particularly since the majority of our investments are in short-term instruments. Based on the nature of our short-term investments, we have concluded that there is no material interest rate risk exposure as of December 31, 2021. We are also subject to market risk exposure related to changes in interest rates under our Second Amended 2019 Credit Facility. We do not expect that any changes in interest rates will be material; however, fluctuations in interest rates are beyond our control. We will continue to monitor and assess the risks associated with interest expense exposure and may take additional actions in the future to mitigate these risks.

Although our functional currency is the U.S. dollar, a substantial portion of our fixed expenses are incurred in Canadian dollars. Our policy with respect to foreign currency exposure is to manage financial exposure to certain foreign exchange fluctuations with the objective of neutralizing some of the impact of foreign currency exchange movements. Exchange rates are, however, subject to significant and rapid fluctuations, and therefore we cannot predict the prospective impact of exchange rate fluctuations on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Accordingly, we have entered into foreign exchange forward contracts to mitigate the exchange rate risk on portions of our Canadian dollar exposure.

As of December 31, 2021, we had the following outstanding foreign exchange forward contracts to trade U.S. dollars in exchange for Canada dollars:

As of December 31, 2021, the Company had $25.2 million of outstanding foreign exchange forward contracts which will convert to CDN $32.0 million. Of these contracts, $25.2 million met the requirements for hedge accounting.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company had $31.8 million of outstanding foreign exchange forward contracts which will convert to CDN $45.5 million. Of these contracts, $26.8 million met the requirements for hedge accounting.

We have performed a sensitivity analysis model for foreign exchange exposure over the year ended December 31, 2021. The analysis used a modeling technique that compares the U.S. dollar equivalent of all expenses incurred in Canadian dollars, at the actual exchange rate, to a hypothetical 10% adverse movement in the foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar, with all other variables held constant. Foreign currency exchange rates used were based on the market rates in effect during the year ended December 31, 2021. The sensitivity analysis indicated that a hypothetical 10% adverse movement in foreign currency exchange rates would result in a decrease in pre-tax net income for the year ended December 31, 2021 of approximately$0.6 million. There can be no assurances that the above projected exchange rate decrease will materialize. Fluctuations of exchange rates are beyond our control. We will continue to monitor and assess the risk associated with these exposures and may take additional actions in the future to hedge or mitigate these risks.

Credit Risk

Financial instruments that potentially subject us to concentrations of credit risk consist principally of cash equivalents, marketable securities, foreign exchange contracts and accounts receivable. Our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments are in high-quality securities placed with major banks and financial institutions whom we have evaluated as highly creditworthy, and commercial paper. Similarly, we enter into our foreign exchange contracts with major banks and financial institutions. With respect to accounts receivable, we perform ongoing evaluations of our customers, generally granting uncollateralized credit terms to our customers, and maintaining an allowance for doubtful accounts based on historical experience and our expectation of future losses.

Interest rate risk

Our exposure to interest rate fluctuations relate primarily to our Second Amended 2019 Credit Facility.

As of December 31, 2021, we had an outstanding balance of $191.4 million on the Second Amended 2019 Credit Facility. The Second Amended 2019 Credit Facility bears a base interest rate based on borrowing elections by the Company with a marginal rate calculated as a function the Company’s total Funded Debt to EBITDA, plus the applicable LIBOR rate. In May 2020, the Company entered into a pay-fixed, receive-variable interest rate swap with a Canadian chartered bank to limit the potential interest rate fluctuations incurred on its future cash flows related to variable interest payments on the Credit facility. The notional value of the interest rate swap was $70 million. The Company does not use the interest rate swap for trading or speculative purposes. The contract is coterminous with the Credit facility, maturing in June 2023. As of December 31, 2021, an adverse change of one percent on the interest rate would have the effect of increasing our annual interest payment on the Second Amended 2019 Credit Facility by approximately $1.2 million, assuming that the loan balance as of December 31, 2021 is outstanding for the entire period.

The Company is currently charged interest based on LIBOR, a key global reference interest rate. The interest is partially hedged by interest rate swaps held by the Company. Currently, LIBOR’s regulator and administrators are seeking to discontinue the publication of LIBOR. Global markets working groups around the world continue to search and recommend an alternative reference rate for LIBOR. In the U.S., the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (“ARRC”) has identified the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) as its preferred alternative rate for USD LIBOR. In October 2021, ARRC recommended market participants to cease entering into new contracts referencing USD LIBOR by December 31, 2021. All existing contracts are to be amended and replaced with reference to SOFR by June 30, 2023, at which time all USD LIBOR rates will cease publication. Both the credit facility agreement and the interest rate swaps will need to be amended when an alternative reference rate is chosen, at which time we may adopt some of the practical expedients provided by ASU 2020-04. As mentioned above, the Company has assessed which existing contracts reference LIBOR and will continue to monitor the situation and have proactive discussions and renegotiations with counterparties around the reference rate change as appropriate.

ITEM 8.     FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

Our consolidated financial statements and supplementary data required by this item are attached to this Annual Report on Form 10-K beginning on page F-1.

ITEM 9.     CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

None.

ITEM 9A.  CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As required by Rule 13a-15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, evaluated, as of the end of the period covered by this report, the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(e). Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives, and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving their control objectives. Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this annual report, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of December 31, 2021 our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act). Our internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and includes those policies and procedures that:

Because of its inherent limitations, such as resource constraints, human error, lack of knowledge or awareness and the possibility of intentional circumvention of these controls, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Furthermore, the design of any control system is based, in part, upon assumptions about the likelihood of future events, for which assumptions may ultimately prove to be incorrect. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation.

Management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021. In making this assessment, our management used the criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

Our management has excluded from our evaluation the Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (“ICFR”) of Simply Bits, which we acquired on November 8, 2021, with the exception of goodwill and certain intangible assets acquired, as discussed in “Note 3 – Acquisitions” of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.  Total revenues excluded from management’s evaluation of ICFR related to Simply Bits' represented less than 1% of our consolidated total revenues for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.  Total assets excluded from management’s evaluation of ICFR related to Simply Bits represented approximately 1% of our consolidated total assets as of December 31, 2021.

Based on the results of our evaluation, management has determined that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2021.

KPMG LLP ("KPMG"), our independent registered public accounting firm, has audited our consolidated financial statements and expressed an unqualified opinion thereon. KPMG has issued an attestation report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021. These reports are set forth at the beginning of Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There were no changes made in our internal controls over financial reporting occurred during Fiscal 2021 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. 

ITEM 9B.  OTHER INFORMATION

None.

ITEM 9C. DISCLOSURE REGARDING FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS THAT PREVENT INSPECTIONS

None.