Silicon Alley URL registrar and hosting firm Register.com has struck a deal with ISP EarthLink to hawk TLD registrations and DNS services to approximately 4.8 million subscribers.

The EarthLink deal is a coup of sorts for Register.com, which is locked in a battle with Verisign's Network Solutions in the ultra-competitive domain registration space.

Before this deal, EarthLink's subscribers were being directed to services from its biggest competitor and Register.com VP of Communications Shonna Keogan said the latest pact involved "exclusivity" within EarthLink's ISP service.

"It is an exclusive deal that involves revenue-sharing," Keogan told atNewYork. Actual financial details of the transaction are not being released but Keogan said Register.com stands would collect a cut from registrations and DSN services sold through the Atlanta-based EarthLink

The deal allows EarthLink customers to search and register ".com," ".net" and ".org" domains -- and more than 28 country code domain names -- directly from the EarthLink Web site.

EarthLink is one of the largest ISPs in the U.S, offering dial-up and premium broadband services to some 4.8 million consumer and small business customers. The company also markets domain registration, e-commerce, and Web hosting.

With actual domain name registrations and transfers declining from quarter to quarter, Register.com's pact with EarthLink fits into a strategy of aggressively marketing services through indirect channels, like third-party ISPs and business partners.

In its latest earnings statement, Register.com registered, transferred and renewed approximately 505,000 domain in the second quarter, a 60,000 drop-off from last quarter's transactions.

With a proliferation of competition in the domain registration space, the company has seen its registration/renewal transaction decline almost 40 percent since the fourth quarter of 2000, when it registered 842,000 names.