At ICANN International Meeting in Singapore, the organization has decided to launch new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs). From now on, a company keen to buy its own top-level domain – for example, .microsoft, .eco, or any other – will be able to apply for such a domain already at in early January 2012 within the framework of the approved procedure.
It took ICANN six years to decide on the approval of procedures of new gTLDs' launch. Over this period, Applicant Guidebook was developed, which is a principal regulatory rulebook detailing the entire process of the launch of a new gTLD – from its price and application procedure to the domain delegation to a registry. The International Meeting approved final version of the Applicant Guidebook as of May 2011. It specifically holds that price of a new generic Top-Level Domain will amount to USD185,000. Organizations wishing to apply for their own top-level domains will also face an integrity check: companies previously exposed in deceptive practices and cybersquatting will be denied domain registration.
ICANN has also approved operational timelines for the year to come: for example, consultation phase will begin right now, and applications for new gTLDs will be accepted by ICANN from 12 January 2012. The deadline for the first applications for new top-level domains will be 12 April 2012, and all the applications will be published 15 days later. Afterwards, ICANN plans to publish all the results of the new gTLDs’ initial testing in November 2012 followed by implementation of contractual obligations, testing and delegation of domains.
It should be noted that the ICANN’s decision was much anticipated by many players on the domain market. In fact, the market for new gTLDs had been already formed and rapidly expanded long before the Applicant Guidebook was approval: for example, there popped up companies ready to provide technical support to prospective registries of the new domains. Moreover, dozens of organizations announced plans to launch their own top-level domains, for example, the Berlin City Council (.berlin), the global environmental community (.eco), technopark Skolkovo (.skolkovo). There will undoubtedly unfold a scramble for some domains will: for example, two organizations lay claim to domain .gay. Obviously, due to the approval of the Applicant Guidebook for new gTLDs, one should be ready for a prompt emergence of prospective registries - companies wishing to buy their own top-level domains.
Andrey Kolesnikov, CEO of CC for TLD RU, said that many attendees gave a standing ovation to the decision to approve the procedures for the launch of the new top-level domains. Today's decision is a fruit of many years of painstaking efforts by scores of experts from different countries, and, this is, perhaps, the most important fact, worth remembering in light of the development, which certainly is a major epoch-making milestone in the Internet‘s development.
