The number of domain names registered across ccTLDs in Latin America and the Caribbean passed the ten million mark according to an announcement from the Latin American and Caribbean Association of ccTLDs (LACTLD) in November.
Purpose: ICANN is seeking feedback on the initial draft of the Latin American and Caribbean DNS Marketplace Study. The goal of this study is to identify and define the strengths and weaknesses in the industry ecosystem within the region, and develop recommendations on how to advance the industry and bring it closer to the opportunities available.
Current Status: Initial draft of the “Latin American and Caribbean DNS Marketplace Study” published for public comment.
Next Steps: Improvements based on community inputs in the draft study report for final version publication.
Commissioned in January 2016, the study investigates the current state of Internet and domain name industry, explore best practices for the uptake of domain names and analyze the ecosystem. It recommends new business potentials based on global benchmarks and propose a way forward for the region.
A consortium led by Oxford Information Labs, LACTLD, EURid and InterConnect Communications is conducting the study for ICANN.
ICANN‘s Latin America and the Caribbean Strategic Plan defined four key areas of interest as strategic focus for the region. Two of those, namely Capacity Building and Outreach; and Economic Issues contemplate aspects to further develop the domain name industry. After consultation with members of LAC Strategic Plan Steering Committee, a request for proposal to conduct the study was released in September 2015 to commission a study to investigate the current state of the Internet and the domain name industry in the region, define best practices that have made an impact in domain name market growth, look at the broader ecosystem of the Internet infrastructure and online services and describe the impact of such elements on the overall evolution of the domain name industry, describe the business potential in the domain name industry in this region, and provide suggestions on how to develop the industry and what business models can be adopted in the entire industry chain. The consortium led by Oxford Information Labs was then contracted in early 2016 and now presents the initial draft report for public comments.
LAC DNS Marketplace Study [PDF, 3.69 MB]
This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
https://www.icann.org/public-comments/lac-dns-marketplace-2016-09-22-en
ICANN is seeking a provider to conduct a study on the domain name industry in the Latin America and the Caribbean region. The goal of this study is to identify and define the strengths and weaknesses in the industry ecosystem within the region, and develop recommendations on how to advance the industry and bring it closer to the opportunities available.
The ICANN‘s Latin America and the Caribbean Strategic Plan defined four key areas of interest as strategic focus for the region. Two of those, namely Capacity Building and Outreach; and Economic Issues contemplate aspects to further develop the domain name industry.
The study at a minimum will investigate the current state of the Internet and the domain name industry in the region, define best practices that have made an impact in domain name market growth, look at the broader ecosystem of the Internet infrastructure and online services and describe the impact of such elements on the overall evolution of the domain name industry, describe the business potential in the domain name industry in this region, and provide suggestions on how to develop the industry and what business models can be adopted in the entire industry chain. The study will include data, analysis, and recommendations.
The final report of the study is to be delivered no later than 18th April 2016.
For additional information and instructions for submitting responses please click here [ZIP, 407 KB].
Proposals should be submitted to LAC-DNS-Study-rfp@icann.org by 23:59 UTC on 23 October 2015.
This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-4-2015-09-25-en
UPDATE: LACNIC has advised the proposal for .LAC is a possible fraud and they are investigating commencing legal actions.It may not be as sexy as .XXX, but the proposed .LAC generic Top Level Domain for Latin America and the Caribbean has opened for free pre-registration with the grand total of nine pre-registrations with an anticipated launch date of mid-2012. But there is an earlier proposal for a gTLD for the Latin American and the Caribbean region – .LAT – with many of the same supporters and board members.The idea of a gTLD for Latin America and the Caribbean is similar in many ways to the existing .EU and .ASIA TLDs and also to the proposed .AFRICA, the latter having competing organisations proposing to bid for the gTLD.Within Latin America and the Caribbean, the proposal for a continent-wide gTLD has the support from many in the industry who believe it will be beneficial for uniting a continent largely united by language, but often by little else.But to be successful, it is likely there will need to be agreement and cooperation between the regional internet organisations – LACTLD (Latin America and Caribbean Top Level Domain association), LACNIC (Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry) and eCOM-LAC (Latin American Federation and Caribbean for Internet and Electronic Commerce).The proposals for a gTLD encompassing Latin American and the Caribbean is facing competition with proposals for both a .LAT and .LAC with both proposals having some of the same board members and representatives.The .LAT proposal appears to have technical support from the .MX registry whose CEO, Oscar Robles, is the president of LACTLD and on the board of LACNIC. On the .LAT website, it is noted that eCOM-LAC in partnership with NIC Mexico will shortly release a proposal to apply for .LAT.However there is another crossover of interests with the president of eCOM-LAC, Oscar Messano, also being the president of LACNIC.Meanwhile both gTLD proposals have the same treasurer – the Brazilian registry. And the El Salvadorian registry has representatives on the boards for both proposed gTLDs.It seems there are some who do not want to appear to miss out and are wanting to guarantee their involvement no matter which proposal is successful.But the .LAC proposal has tried to get a jump on .LAT with pre-registrations commencing. At the time of writing there were nine pre-registrations, these being news.lac, holiday.lac, jamaica.lac, internet.lac, fangdigital.lac, dealmob.lac, domain.lac, united-domains.lac and uniteddomains.lac.Pre-registration for the proposed gTLD is being handled by United Domains, an existing registrar that supports over 1.4 million domain names for more than 250,000 clients.
