According to Domain Incite, the registries of two new gTLDs − اتصالات . and .DESI − failed to pay their quarterly fees to ICANN. ICANN first notified the registries of late payment in September. This time, if it does not receive payment by the first week of January 2019, ICANN will initiate the process of terminating the registry agreements.
Interestingly, one of the domains − اتصالات . (.xn--mgbaakc7dvf) − is a dot-brand managed by UAE-based telecommunications powerhouse Etisalat. The incident seems rather amusing: the respected company with annual revenue of about $14 billion must have simply forgotten about its dot-brand. No other names besides the obligatory NIC website are registered in the domain zone, and the contact phone number in the IANA database is out of order.
The other domain, .DESI, is operated by the US-based Desi Networks, which targets .DESI at people from Hindustan. The company, which has been on the market for about four years and has the potential to reach over a billion users, managed to register only 3,700 names in the .DESI domain, while the national domain of India, .IN, includes more than two million names.
The registration and renewal fee for a name in the .DESI zone costs about $20 per year. With so few registered names, it may be a challenge for the registry to pay the fixed quarterly fee of $6,250 due to ICANN.
Desi Networks promises on its official website to donate part of the funds from domain registration to charity to assist the needy in Southeast Asia. Apparently, the registry was much more optimistic four years ago.
