Issue 111 - 20th March

ICANN Announces Dr. Paul Twomey as New President/CEO

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) yesterday announced that Australian Dr. Paul Twomey has been appointed by the Board of Directors as the new President and CEO. On 27 March, Dr. Twomey will replace retiring President/CEO Stuart Lynn, who has served for the past two years.

"I am very pleased that Paul will be the next ICANN President, following a thorough and global search process" noted Vint Cerf, ICANN Board Chairman. "His strong background in the private and government sectors, coupled with his extensive experience with ICANN, provides a solid foundation for his leadership. He will hit the ground running."

Full announcement available here.

ICANN proposal to lower fees as ccTLD market expands

ICANN are considering a budget proposal to temporarily halve the fees paid by country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registries to encourage them to enter agreements with it.

ICANN's funding comes from generic top-level domain (gTLD) registries and from those ccTLD registries with which it has an agreement.

ccTLDs contain a growing percentage of registered domains, at 38.4% in February this year, up from 32.1% in March last year, according to ICANN estimates. The ccTLD registries are, therefore, an important potential source of revenue for ICANN.

One country that has seen a significant growth in demand for it's ccTLD is Croatia, where the national registry, Regica.net, has reported that in the last three months, 45 per cent more .hr domains have been registered than in the same period last year.