ICANN has published on its official website a list of companies and organizations which were pre-approved for its Registry Service Provider (RSP) program. An RSP acts as the technical operator for domain zones, delivering essential services for registries, such as Domain Name System (DNS) management, Registration Data Access Protocol, and DNS Security Extensions.
The RSP program was established in preparation for the second phase of the New Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) program, which is scheduled to launch in April 2026. Many gTLD applicants depend on third-party registry service providers to manage their technical infrastructure. The RSP program is designed to guarantee that these providers possess the required technical qualifications to operate gTLD infrastructure.
ICANN’s list includes 28 companies and organizations that have cleared at least the first stage of the evaluation process – a comprehensive technical screening. The next stage involves technical testing, conducted using Registry System Testing version 2.0, an automated service that RSP applicants run on their own systems. Results will be recorded in ICANN’s database as they become available.
Among the pre-qualified RSPs are major industry players like the French ccTLD registry AFNIC, Germany’s DENIC, the UK’s Nominet, as well as Identity Digital, Google Registry, and Tucows. Notably, Yandex, a Russian company, also appears on ICANN’s list, having successfully passed the technical screening stage. ICANN plans to update the database regularly as participants complete the second stage of evaluation.
For reference, Yandex acquired the .YANDEX brand domain in 2014, which currently hosts over 100 registered domain names.
