Issue 150 - 26th March

ICANN to review proposals for 10 new Top Level Domains

The Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has received ten applications for new sponsored Top Level Domains (sTLD's), in response to a request for proposals issued last December. Each organisation paid $45,000 to submit their application.

The 10 applications received are as follows:

.asia, sponsored by DotAsia Organization Limited (Hong Kong)
.cat, sponsored by Fundació puntCAT
.job, sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management (US)
.mail, sponsored by the Anti-Spam Community Registry (UK)
.mobi, sponsored by Mobi JV (Finland)
.post, sponsored by Universal Post Union (Switzerland)
.tel, sponsored by Pulver.com (US)
.tel, sponsored by Telname Limited (UK)
.travel, sponsored by the Travel Partnership Corporation (US)
.xxx, sponsored by the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (Canada)

A public comment period will open 1- 30 April 2004 and the applications will then be reviewed by an independent evaluation panel beginning in May 2004.

The seven original gTLDs (.com, .edu, .gov, .int, .mil, .net, and .org) were created in the 1980s. In 2000, ICANN introduced seven new TLDs. Four of those new TLDs (.biz, .info, .name, and .pro) are unsponsored. The other three TLDs from that round (.aero, .coop, and .museum) are so-called sponsored domains created for a particular sector of industry or administered by a trade body or other representative group.

Update on second level .hk domains

Earlier this year the Hong Kong Registry began the process of opening up the .hk suffix at the second level. The first phase of the launch was only available to holders of Hong Kong trademarks for domain names with an exact match to their trademark. This phase, known as the priority registration period, closed last week.

Phase two of the launch will run from April 6 to May 7, 2004. This phase is known as the pre-registration period (or grandfathering phase) and will only be available to existing owners of third level .hk domains. The Registry will accept applications from Registrants applying for domains with an exact match to their existing third level .hk domain.

If you currently own a third level domain, such as .com.hk, and would like to apply for the second level .hk domain, please contact your NetNames Account Manager or email here

The third phase of the launch is expected to begin on May 17th, when the Registry will start accepting applications from the public. N3 lite will keep you informed as the date approaches.