The first time ICANN conducted a round to allow new generic Internet Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) was in 2000, two years after the creation of ICANN. Another small round followed in 2004, then a large one in 2012.
So it took 2 years, then 4 years, then 8 years. Will it have taken 16 years for the next one?
A detailed analysis would support that prediction.
After the close of the 2012 new gTLD application window, the biggest problem was how to deal with almost 2000 new gTLD applications. Nobody had time to think of a new round.
When the smoke had cleared a bit by 2015, ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization GNSO (ICANN’s body in charge of Domain Name Policy) considered a Preliminary Issue Report. Then a Final Issue Report. Then it resolved to launch a new Policy Development Process. That working group was known as “subpro” (officially PDP on “New gTLD Subsequent Procedures”). It worked for 3 more years.
It delivered a 400-page Final Report almost 2 years ago: https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/final-report-newgtld-subsequent-procedures-pdp-02feb21-en.pdf . On that basis, ICANN’s staff has been conducting the so-called Operational Design Phase https://www.icann.org/subpro-odp . Its conclusions will take the form of a document called “Operational Design Assessment” (ODA). ICANN’s official “pens down” date for the ODA is November 9, 2022.
That’s in three weeks.
The Final Report contains many rules about minimum waiting periods and milestones that must precede other milestones. Some timeline estimates are contained in an ICANN staff presentation https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/content=t:attachment,f:%22SubProODP_ICANN74.pdf%22/pTlOdwWaRAWgGIDBhTww shown at the Kuala Lumpur ICANN meeting last month.
On these assumptions, the next gTLD Application Submission Period can take place in 2025 at the earliest. But that is just the application window. Further mandated timelines imply that the first new gTLD from the next round will not go live before 2027.
We, at CORE, keep a graphical estimate of the timeline here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vKgRIo1-_BgBpdaWTtFnJXRa44Mbb09W/edit#gid=2104093706 .
Check for the next major update after November 9.
This said, even if 2025 may still seem far away, experience shows that preparing a good application and a good project for a successful TLD takes time and should not be rushed at the last minute.
