Afilias has made a request to ICANN to remove the cross-ownership restrictions written into the .pro and .mobi registry agreements.

To obtain the removal, Afilias has to request ICANN remove the restrictions and a public consultation has to be undertaken.

According to the approved process, in order to lift cross-ownership restrictions, existing gTLD registry operators could either request an amendment to their existing Registry Agreement to remove the cross-ownership restrictions or request to transition to the new form of Registry Agreement for new gTLDs. Any proposed material amendments to gTLD registry agreements would be subject to public comment prior to ICANN approval.

More information on the proposed changed changes for .pro can be found here and for .mobi here.