Next Round of New TLDs May Not Happen Until 2020, Says ICANN

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Next Round of New TLDs May Not Happen Until 2020, Says ICANN

By CircleID Reporter
May 05, 2016, 4:15 pm PDT Views: 13,150 Add Comment

Speaking at this week’s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), taking place in Geneva, head of ICANN’s global domains division, Akram Atallah, has pointed to 2020 as the earliest realistic timeframe for the next round of new gTLD applications. However, questions remain as to whether it will be a round or a permanent window, Trevor Little reports in the World Tademark Review.

As to when the timeframe may actually be, Atallah has stressed the need for patience, concluding: “Everyone keeps asking me when the next round will be. The timeline is drifting towards the end of 2017 for all the reviews to happen but the PDPs could take longer, and based on all of that there will be input and recommendations to the board. Depending on what recommendations we get, this will dictate the amount of work we have to do to prepare for the next round. In my view, it will be tough to see the next round opening up before a 2018-2019 timeframe. That is optimistic. Depending on the changes needed from this round to next, the work could take us into 2020 before we can open the next round.”

By CircleID Reporter — CircleID’s internal staff reporting on news tips and developing stories. Do you have information the professional Internet community should be aware of? Contact us.
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