The first four new Top Level Domains (TLDs) have passed pre-delegation testing. Historically, it has taken most companies about 9 months after the Registry Agreement is signed before domain names go on sale to the general public. The four TLDs signed Registry agreements in April 2013. These TLDs may begin to sell domain names to the public as early as December 2013 or January 2014. Applicants have a maximum of one year after the Registry Agreement is signed to begin selling domain names to the public.

These four TLDs were:
???? – Arabic for “Web or Network”
?????? – Russian for “Online”
???? – Russian for “Web site”
?? – Chinese for “Game”

The first four applicants to sign Registry Agreements and pass Pre-Delgation testing were, not surprisingly Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). That’s because ICANN assigned all foreign language script TLDs with the lowest prioritization numbers. ICANN has been evaluating applicants in the order established in a drawing held in December 2012. It was decided that the IDN domain names, that is, the TLDs in foreign language scripts, would be evaluated first so that these would be the first TLDs launched as a result of this application round.

About the Applicants:

International Domain Registry Pty. Ltd. – International Domain Registry Pty. Ltd., based in Australia, applied for the dot ???? Top Level Domain. ???? means Web or Network in Arabic. International Domain Registry Pty. Ltd. only applied for one Top Level Domain.

CORE Association – CORE Association applied for a total of three new Top Level Domains (TLDs). All three of these TLDs have passed the Initial Evaluation phase, and two out of three have signed Registry Agreements

Spring Fields LLC – Spring Fields LLC is wholly owned by Donuts, Inc. Through its various subsidiary companies, Donuts, Inc. applied for more Top Level Domains than any other applicant. Donuts, Inc. created hundreds of subsidiary companies, such as Spring Fields, LLC, and each subsidiary company was the applicant for one TLD. Spring Fields, LLC was the sole applicant for the .?? TLD. ?? means ‘Game’ in Chinese.