Antony Van Couvering, CEO of Top Level Domain Holdings, commented:

“We view .bayern as a very significant win for Bayern Connect and for TLDH. We are fully aware of the responsibility entrusted to us and plan to fully support Bayern Connect in its mission. Germany has 82 million inhabitants, 62 million internet users1 and 15 million domain2 names registered under .de. By comparison, Bavaria has 12.5 million inhabitants. We foresee a long and mutually profitable relationship with Bayern Connect and the people of Bavaria through this initiative.”

Top Level Domain Holdings is currently supporting a portfolio of gTLD applications ranging from geographic applications, wholly-owned or joint venture applications for generic word based domains, and applications by third party clients where Top Level Domain’s registry services company, Minds+Machines, provides the registry service.

1 Source: ITU September 2009
2 Source: Denic Statistics

Further Information:

Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
North America
Antony Van Couvering Tel: + 1 917 406 7126

Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nomad) Tel +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
Roland Cornish
Michael Cornish

XCAP Securities plc (Joint Broker) Tel: +44 (0) 20 3216 2661/2667
Karen Kelly
Halimah Hussain

Daniel Stewart & Company plc (Joint Broker) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7776 6550
Nick Brown

gth media relations
Toby Hall /Suzanne Johnson Walsh Tel: +44 (0) 20 3103 3903/2

Or visit the group’s website at www.tldh.org

About Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
Top Level Domain Holdings is a publicly traded holding company listed on the London AIM market. The company is focused on the new top-level domain space. Top-level domains, such as .com, run by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and .biz, run by NeuStar (NYSE: NSR), are regulated by ICANN. ICANN has announced plans to expand the number of top-level domains. TLDH intends to make targeted investments in this space, focusing on both infrastructure technologies and specific top-level domains.

About Minds + Machines, at www.mindsandmachines.com
Minds + Machines is a registry services provider that works internationally with commercial organisations, cities, not-for-profits and entrepreneurs to secure and operate new web domains, known as top-level domains (TLDs). Minds + Machines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Top Level Domain Holdings, Ltd.

To that end, the Directors are pleased to report that Top Level Domain Holdings will shortly be purchasing its first batch of twenty application slots for new gTLDs on behalf of itself and clients of Minds + Machines. This first tranche will include slots for client applications for geographic-based gTLDs and generic words. The Company expects to submit multiple batches for application slots during the application window.

Separately, the Directors are pleased to report that Minds + Machines has today been appointed as the registry services provider for DOT KIWI LIMITED, a New Zealand company that has publically stated it will apply for the “.kiwi” gTLD string. A proportion of DOT KIWI’s domain revenue and profit will be donated to a trust established to help fund the reconstruction of the earthquake devastated city of Christchurch, New Zealand. Dot Kiwi joins other geographical, brand, and entrepreneurial clients from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America that have chosen Minds + Machines, but who wish to keep their plans confidential.

Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of TLDH, commented:

“This is a historic day in the Internet’s evolution. It marks a new beginning for the domain name system, after a six-year process in which ICANN has successfully gained global consensus for the new gTLD programme through its multi-stakeholder model. We applaud the ICANN Board for having the strength to see this initiative across the line. We now look forward to playing our part in creating a vibrant new wave of innovation, consumer choice and wealth creation on the Internet as a result of the gTLD programme.”

Further Information:

Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
Antony Van Couvering
Tel: + 1 917 406 7126

Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nomad)
Roland Cornish
Michael Cornish
Tel +44 (0) 20 7628 3396

XCAP Securities plc (Joint Broker)
Jon Belliss / Karen Kelly
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7107 7070

Daniel Stewart & Company plc (Joint Broker)
Nick Brown
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7776 6550

gth media relations
Toby Hall / Suzanne Johnson Walsh
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3103 3903/2

About Top Level Domain Holdings Limited, http://www.tldh.org

Top Level Domain Holding is a publicly traded holding company listed on the London AIM market. The company is focused on the new top-level domain space. Top-level domains, such as .com, run by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and .biz, run by NeuStar (NYSE: NSR), are regulated by ICANN. ICANN has announced plans to expand the number of top-level domains. TLDH intends to make targeted investments in this space, focusing on both infrastructure technologies and specific top-level domains.

About Minds + Machines, http://www.mindsandmachines.com

Minds + Machines is a registry services provider that works internationally with commercial organisations, cities, not-for-profits and entrepreneurs to secure and operate new web domains, known as top-level domains (TLDs). Minds + Machines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Top Level Domains Holdings, Ltd.

According to the interview on Dot-Nxt [warning: payment required]:

Steve Crocker [said that the ICANN] Board will be holding a special meeting in the first week of January and that the meeting’s focus will be the launch of the new gTLD program the following week. But that meeting will not consider either a delay or a limited rollout, he stated.

Asked specifically about widespread calls for a “pilot program” that would feature only a limited number of Internet extensions, Crocker noted that the organization had already run pilot programs for expanding the top level of the Internet and argued that “we haven’t seen anything to suggest there would be value in delaying the launch.”

A highly organized campaign by lobbyists against new gTLDs, begun after the new gTLD programme was approved, has brought letters from U.S. politicians urging delay, or a limited roll-out of new gTLDs.

Meanwhile defenders of the multi-stakeholder governance model have vehemently opposed interference with ICANN’s policy development processes. Milton Mueller of the Internet Governance Project said in an recent article:

ICANN’s plan to open up the domain name space to new top level domains is scheduled to begin January 12, 2012. This long overdue implementation is the result of an open process that began in 2006. It would, in fact, be more realistic to say that the decision has been in the works… since early 1997. That is when demand for new top-level domain names… made it clear that a new institutional framework had to be created. ICANN was the progressive and innovative U.S. response to that need. It was created to become a nongovernmental, independent, truly global and representative policy development authority.

Now there is a cynical, illegitimate last-second push by a few corporate interests in the United States to derail that process. The arguments put forward by these interests are not new; they are the same anti-new TLD arguments that have been made since 1997, and the concerns expressed are all addressed in one way or another by the policies ICANN has developed. What is new is that U.S. corporate trademark interests are openly admitting that their participation in the ICANN process has been in bad faith all along.

To its everlasting credit, the U.S. Commerce Department, the official governmental contractor and supervisor of ICANN, has not caved in to the cynical corporate obstructionism. They realize what is at stake.

The commencement of the application window on 12 January 2012 remains intact following the recent US Senate and House of Representative sub-committee hearings. The Directors of TLDH were also pleased to note that during the House of Representative sub-committee hearing on 14 December 2011, the head of the NTIA, the US Government department responsible for overseeing ICANN related issues, stated that the NTIA fully supports the multi-stakeholder model pioneered by ICANN and will not intervene to stop or delay the new gTLD programme.

As previously reported, the Company’s subsidiary, Minds + Machines, is working with a wide number of gTLD applicants, including cities and regions, brand owners, organisations and entrepreneurs worldwide who have either issued request for proposals or who are in direct discussions with Minds + Machines. In addition, the Company continues to progress preparations for applications for gTLDs on its own behalf.

Antony Van Couvering, CEO of TLDH, commented:

“The US hearings have had the effect of galvanizing organisations into positive action. By extending the debate beyond the domain industry, a wider audience has been reached and they are now realising the need for urgent action now that the final perceived hurdles of the gTLD programme have been overcome. We are now seeing a significant uplift in interest in gTLDs from organisations of all sizes.”

Further Information:

Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
Antony Van Couvering
Tel: + 1 917 406 7126

Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nomad)
Roland Cornish
Michael Cornish
Tel +44 (0) 20 7628 3396

XCAP Securities plc (Joint Broker)
Jon Belliss / Karen Kelly
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7107 7070

Daniel Stewart & Company plc (Joint Broker)
Nick Brown
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7776 6550

gth media relations
Toby Hall / Suzanne Johnson Walsh
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3103 3903/2

About Top Level Domain Holdings Limited, http://www.tldh.org

Top Level Domain Holding is a publicly traded holding company listed on the London AIM market. The company is focused on the new top-level domain space. Top-level domains, such as .com, run by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and .biz, run by NeuStar (NYSE: NSR), are regulated by ICANN. ICANN has announced plans to expand the number of top-level domains. TLDH intends to make targeted investments in this space, focusing on both infrastructure technologies and specific top-level domains.

About Minds + Machines, http://www.mindsandmachines.com

Minds + Machines is a registry services provider that works internationally with commercial organisations, cities, not-for-profits and entrepreneurs to secure and operate new web domains, known as top-level domains (TLDs). Minds + Machines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Top Level Domains Holdings, Ltd.

Among the subjects covered are the benefits of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) to businesses; the effect of the new gTLDs on search engines; and the effect of issuing non-Latin-script names. Mr. Dengate Thrush also delivers a stinging rebuttal to criticisms of the introduction of gTLDs program leveled by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).

• Client agreements now signed, or close to being finalized, in the US, Canada, South America, Asia, Africa and Europe;
• Continued progress being made with the Company’s own application bids;
• TLDH seeing strong international interest in the gTLD programme; and
• ICANN’s timetable remains unchanged.

The Directors of Top Level Domain Holdings Limited (AIM:TLDH.L), the only publicly traded company focused exclusively on acquiring and operating new generic top-level domains (“gTLDs”), are pleased to provide an update on the business development activity of its registry services business, Minds + Machines and the progress of the new gTLD programme administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”).

Company Update

Further to the announcement on 7 September 2011, the Directors are pleased to report that Minds + Machines continues to engage with a wide spectrum of gTLD applicants, including cities and regions, brand owners and entrepreneurs who have either issued request for proposals (“RFPs”) or who are in direct discussions with Minds+Machines. To date, Minds + Machines has now signed, or is close to finalising, agreements with clients in the US, Canada, South America, Africa, Asia and Europe to represent them in the gTLD application process. For competitive reasons, the clients do not wish their names to be disclosed until after the application window has closed.

In addition, the Company continues to make good progress on preparing applications for gTLDs on its own behalf.

gTLD Market Update

There continues to be growing world wide interest in the gTLD programme and a range of governments, businesses, and entrepreneurs have announced their intention to apply for new gTLDs in recent weeks. For competitive reasons, most applicants are unlikely to disclose their plans publicly at this stage. However, excluding the prospective applications being prepared by Minds + Machines for its clients and own account, the Directors are aware of globally recognised brands requesting information or issuing RFPs, as well as entrepreneurs searching for services for one or several applications. Over 100 named-bids have already been identified by market commentators as intending to apply (of which over 40 are cities or regions) and the Directors believe the industry wide applications which will be made during the application window will be a significant multiple of this.

ICANN gTLD Update

The Directors are also pleased to report that ICANN’s planned schedule for the new gTLD programme remains unchanged. The application window will open on 12 January 2012, and close on 12 April 2012. On 27April 2012, ICANN will announce which applicants have applied for which gTLDs (or strings), after which they will evaluate the applications according to the criteria established by international consensus in the Applicant Guidebook (see http://newgtlds.icann.org/applicants/agb). While the length of the evaluation period will depend on the volume of applications to be processed, the Directors estimate that the first new gTLDs will go live in late 2012 or early 2013.

In the past month, ICANN has provided a significant amount of information to prospective applicants and has made available a number of useful tools on its new web site devoted to new gTLDs (see http://newgtlds.icann.org), including a knowledgebase and FAQ devoted to the new gTLD programme (see http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-4-21nov11-en.htm). ICANN has also opened a customer assistance center and a demonstration version of their Top Level Domain Application System (“TAS”), which will be used by applicants to submit their applications (see http://newgtlds.icann.org/applicants/tas/demo).

Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of TLDH, commented:

“We are very pleased to see that there is now a ground swell of strong international interest in the new gTLD programme and we look forward to Minds + Machines submitting applications both for its clients and its own account when the application window opens early in January.”

Further Information:

Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
Antony Van Couvering
Tel: + 1 917 406 7126

Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nomad)
Roland Cornish
Michael Cornish
Tel +44 (0) 20 7628 3396

XCAP Securities plc (Joint Broker)
Jon Belliss / Karen Kelly
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7107 7070

Daniel Stewart & Company plc (Joint Broker)
Nick Brown
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7776 6550

gth media relations
Toby Hall / Suzanne Johnson Walsh
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3103 3903/2

About Top Level Domain Holdings Limited, http://www.tldh.org

Top Level Domain Holding is a publicly traded holding company listed on the London AIM market. The company is focused on the new top-level domain space. Top-level domains, such as .com, run by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and .biz, run by NeuStar (NYSE: NSR), are regulated by ICANN. ICANN has announced plans to expand the number of top-level domains. TLDH intends to make targeted investments in this space, focusing on both infrastructure technologies and specific top-level domains.

About Minds + Machines, http://www.mindsandmachines.com

Minds + Machines is a registry services provider that works internationally with commercial organisations, cities, not-for-profits and entrepreneurs to secure and operate new web domains, known as top-level domains (TLDs). Minds + Machines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Top Level Domains Holdings, Ltd.

The full article was published today on the Wall Street Journal’s web site.

Q: You are CEO of Top Level Domain Holdings, CEO and founder of Minds + Machines, CEO of dotNYC, and Principal of Names@Work. Are there any other companies or organizations that you are currently a part of, which I failed to mention?

A: That’s about it, although I also act as an advisor to DomainsBot, which is a very cool domain technology company that I’ve been involved with since its early days. Names@Work is not really operative any more, since I don’t do independent consulting. I leave it up there because some of the commentary I made about new gTLDs is still pertinent. Minds + Machines is wholly owned by Top Level Domain Holdings, so they’re just different parts of the same company. DotNYC LLC is an aspirant for the City of New York’s approval to go after .NYC, which is still pending. So really my work is all connected — it’s not as if I have four jobs.

Q: In your abovementioned roles, you clearly have your finger on the pulse of the new gTLD program. When do you expect the first new gTLDs to be approved? When would you expect .NYC domains to be available for public registration?

A: Given the full support that city TLDs have from governments, from ICANN, from just about everyone, and because it’s highly unlikely to see any contention or significant objections, I expect that .NYC will sail through the ICANN evaluation process. That said, I think setting up the Sunrise and Landrush periods, particularly the latter, will take some time. So I’m guessing we’ll start seeing .NYC domains in mid-2013. There may be some .brand TLDs that happen more quickly, but I doubt you’ll see any new gTLD second-level domains before the first quarter of 2013.

Q: What do you think the biggest obstacle is to the new gTLD program’s progress? What do you make of Bob Liodice’s recent statements opposing the new gTLD program in his role as President and CEO of the Association of National Advertisers (“ANA”)?

A: I just wrote a long blog post about the ANA and its efforts to torpedo the new gTLD program. It’s not going to happen, for a lot of reasons that I explain. I think Mr. Liodice is the mouthpiece for an industry that’s really threatened by the new gTLD program because it will change how things work on the Internet. It will have a lot of consequences for navigation, search, and branding, and this means that advertising professionals will have to really get their heads around Internet naming, a field that they’re really ignored up until now. It’s threatening to how they do business today. To me, the opposition to the new gTLD program from entrenched industries is an excellent indication of how disruptive this change in the Internet will be.

I think the biggest obstacles are behind us. Going forward, I’m more worried about ICANN being on top of their game and handling the applications smoothly. I don’t expect it to be entirely clear sailing, it’s a brand new thing and all the processes are untested. I’m more worried that there is unfairness, or perceived unfairness, in the evaluation process — it’s pretty opaque, and there isn’t really any appeal of a bad decision. That’s something that ICANN will (I hope) repair as the evaluation process unfolds.

Q: How do you think new gTLDs will affect the value of .COM domains and ccTLDs? In particular, as there will be more options for registrants to choose from, will the resale value of .COM’s be diluted?

A: As soon as Americans lose the habit of attaching a .com to the end of any string to the left of the dot, that’s going to affect the resale value of .com — it will no longer be an unquestioned universal. That will happen as soon as one of the new gTLDs is a hit and people begin to wonder “what do I type on the end?” — which I think happen soon after the new gTLD hit the market. The .com TLD will be very dominant for a long time, but if you have to think about what extension a domain name falls under, you are less likely to just type in a name on a guess, and that means that typo traffic will lessen. A great .com name will still command a very good price, but typo names will be worth less. I don’t think you’re going to see a precipitous fall in values, but if I owned a bunch of second-rate .com names, I’d be trying to sell them now.

Q: Do you expect dotECO to be a commercial success? Who do you expect to buy names under this extension?

A: A new gTLD is a business, and like any business it has to be run well and imaginatively to succeed. There are two .eco efforts, one run by our client, the other by a group in Canada. We think we have a better concept, that ours will do more good for the environment, and that we’ll run it better, but we’ll have to see who wins in the end. Certainly there is a great deal of interest in saving our planet, and a lot of people want to associate themselves with that aspiration, as do businesses. We see many individuals wanting to fly the eco flag, and a lot of businesses wanting to highlight their environmental initiatives.

Q: What are some of the most commercially promising new gTLD applications that you are aware of?

A: I’ll start by noting that given a choice between .com and a copy of .com, people will choose .com every time. So I think that applicants who are lining up for “blockbuster” general-interest TLDs are going to be sorry if they pay any significant amount of money for it. There are a lot of new gTLDs though that are great because they offer a choice. First, regional and city TLDs will do well, especially in places like New York and Bavaria (Germany), where people are really proud of where they live and want to display it — and don’t forget that unlike .com, local residents will likely have a lot to say in how the TLD is run, which increases a sense of pride and ownership. Beyond that, clearly IDNs can have a great impact just because they’ll be a label in the local language, which means a lot to people. Any TLD that targets a fairly large audience with group feelings, or professional associations — dentists, CPAs, and so on — has an excellent chance of doing well, because marketing to them is not so hard, and they get a lot of value from announcing their credentials with every email they send. Finally there are going to be some surprises due to great marketing, or a bundled application that makes the most out of the TLD, or simply because someone is able to create a sense of scarcity and demand.

Q: Are you aware of any applications for any new gTLDs that are IDNs? If so, what are they?

A: I know of several but I’m not allowed to discuss them.

Q: What is your view on the value and potential of IDNs, and IDN.com’s in particular?

A: I like IDNs a lot, but I’m less bullish on IDN.com names because of the necessity to switch between scripts — and because they’re second-level names. Second-level names have a lot to recommend them as investments, as I’m sure your readers are aware, but personally I like the value of the top level. There’s just a lot more you can do with a top-level domain. With the explosion of the .RF (Cyrillic) TLD, it’s clear that there’s demand out there. In any situation where you’re selling to the public, the major factors of success are GDP and Internet penetration among your target audience, along with policies that make for easy registrations and clear rules of ownership. That’s the same whether it’s an IDN or a Latin-script name. What IDNs really have going for them is the expansion of the Internet itself, which continues at a fast pace, and the fact that most of this expansion is now taking place in areas where non-Latin scripts are predominant.

Q: Do you believe that a version of IDN.com aliasing, as discussed here, is likely to be implemented soon via the new gTLD program?

A: No. It took them nearly 10 years to figure out IDNs generally, and aliasing presents a much harder if not completely intractable problem. There are some super-smart people at VeriSign, but I’ve had enough experience with translation difficulties to understand that aliasing between languages is a very very tough problem. I remember when .CN started doing IDNs, and all my corporate customers were going through conniptions trying to translate their brands into Chinese. It’s not a simple problem. Take Amazon.com for example. Do you want a phonetic transliteration, A-mah-zohn? Or do you want to use the Chinese name for the river? Or do you want something that evokes the same reaction that the name does in English: big, mighty, wide, long, flowing? I will be very interested to see how VeriSign handles these issues.

Q: What are the typical costs for applying for a new gTLD?

A: You’ve got $185K to ICANN as an application fee. You’ve got to pay someone to help you with your application, even if it’s only to supply you with the technical questions. You’ve definitely got to count some time, even if that cost is hidden. ICANN also wants you to guarantee that you’ll have enough money for core registry functions in case you fail and someone else needs to pick up the pieces — this isn’t money you have to spend, but you do have to have it available in case it’s needed. For a small-to-medium-sized TLD, I think you should set aside about $1M, although your actual costs will be more like $300 – $500K, depending on how complicated your application is. For some reason, our competitors keep their pricing hidden, but with Minds + Machines you can pay us as little as $10K for the application phase, and then when you get to operations we different plans to choose from, ranging from a flat fee with unlimited names to a cheaper per-name option that will cost you more if you register a lot of names.

Q: What are the typical yearly costs for running a new gTLD?

A: You need to pay ICANN at least $25K annually (more if you have over 100K names in your zone), and you’ll need also to pay your registry service provider. We charge as little as $25K / yr or $1.50 per name in volume.

Q: Do you have any general advice for entrepreneurs contemplating a new gTLD application?

A: Yes. Know your market and know how to market to them. If you think registrars are going to do your marketing for you, you’ll be in for a nasty shock.

Q: Do you have any general advice for domain investors/developers regarding the value of registering new gTLDs?

A: Well, that’s one of the reasons why we formed Top Level Domain Holdings, which is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange (AIM: TLDH.L). Investing in any particular TLD is expensive, as I’ve outlined above. We will be applying for a basket of names, and we are working with a variety of clients with different business models as well. So we will have a pretty diverse set of TLDs that we’ll be generating revenue from. As far as I know, we’re the only publicly traded company with a singular focus on new gTLDs. So that’s certainly one way to invest, and maybe the only way if you don’t have the money to start one yourself. If you’re planning to start a new gTLD, the best thing you can do is find a registry service provider that you know and can trust, because they are going to be very important to the success of your business. Finally, as I said above, know your market. A lot of people call me up and say, “Hey, I’ve got this great idea for a TLD — you should invest and then we’ll split the profits, whaddya say?” And I ask them if they have more than a word, because guess what, I have a dictionary too. I’m really interested in talking to people who have privileged access — either from experience, or some other “in” — to a market that they understand very well. Otherwise, what value are they adding?

Q: Is there anything that I didn’t ask that you would like to add?

A: New gTLDs are going to create a lot of value and will transform how we think about getting around on the Internet. They will create a lot of opportunity for those who take the trouble to understand the rather complicated regulatory/policy framework they inhabit, and for people who think they’ll just buy a word and be the next .com — well, they’ll get eaten alive. The good news is that there are quite a few competent people out there — ourselves and some of our competitors — who really do know what it takes to manage and operate a gTLD. If you can bring a complementary expertise to the table, there’s a good chance you can profit from this, and help the Internet and the people who use it while you’re at it.

Q: Thank you for your time.

The Directors of Top Level Domain Holdings Limited (AIM:TLDH.L) announce that all the resolutions were passed at the Company’s annual general meeting held earlier today.

Further Information:

Antony Van Couvering
Tel: + 1 917 406 7126

Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nomad)
Roland Cornish
Michael Cornish
Tel +44 (0) 20 7628 3396

gth Media
Toby Hall /Christian Pickel
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3103 3902/3

Or visit the group’s website at www.tldh.org

Top Level Domain Holdings is a publicly traded holding company listed on the London AIM market. The company is focused on the new top-level domain space. Top-level domains, such as .com, run by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and .biz, run by NeuStar (NYSE: NSR), are regulated by ICANN. ICANN has announced plans to expand the number of top-level domains. TLDH intends to make targeted investments in this space, focusing on both infrastructure technologies and specific top-level domains.

About Minds + Machines, http://mindsandmachines.com

Minds + Machines is a registry services provider that works internationally with commercial organisations, cities, not-for-profits and entrepreneurs to secure and operate new web domains, known as top-level domains (TLDs). Minds + Machines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Top Level Domains Holdings, Ltd.