The 76th ICANN meeting in Mexico in March may make the first decisions regarding the next phase of the New Generic Top-Level Domains program. This is reported by the Domain Incite. He quotes ICANN Board Chair Tripti Sinha as saying “the Board anticipates making incremental decisions leading up to the final decision on opening a new application window for new gTLDs”. However, “many” of these decisions will be approved at the next ICANN meeting. Sinha, however, notes that a small but important part of the recommendations will require further consideration and discussion.
As previously reported, in December last year, two options for the implementation of the second phase of the new domains program were presented to the ICANN Board for consideration. The first of these involves large-scale (about $125 million) investments and a five-year preparatory period. During this time, a fully automated system for receiving and processing applications for new domains should be created. The second option reduces the start time of the new stage to one and a half years, but provides for an increase in the burden on ICANN staff due to the need to process applications manually. At the same time, the number of applications that the corporation is able to accept at the same time will be limited, and therefore the windows for their submission will be sequentially opened in 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028. In the event that the number of applications exceeds ICANN's capacity within a single window, applications for consideration will be selected by lottery.
The good news for those dreaming of an early start to the new phase of the program is that the Board is clearly leaning towards the second option and has already asked for more details regarding its funding.
