.moscow

Status:	Contract Signed
Manager:	FAITID
Registry Provider:	Internet Systems Consortium
Type:	IDN Geo TLD
Key people:	Dmitry Burkov, Chairman Matvey Alexeev, CEO
More information:

.moscow is a proposed new GeoTLD in ICANN's new gTLD expansion program. The application for the .moscow TLD was submitted by the Foundation for Assistance for Internet Technologies and Infrastructure Development (FAITID), a non-profit organization established in 2011 to develop and implement initiatives to increase the use of the Internet in Russian communities and internationally.

The company has submitted applications for both .moscow and .москва, which is the Russian word for "Moscow".

The .moscow .москва Project

In 2010, The RU-CENTER initiated the .moscow .москва project and recommended the creation of a special Community Council to handle the applications for the proposed TLDs with ICANN. The center submitted its official proposal to develop the .moscow (.москва) TLDs to various government agencies in Moscow.

One of the leading newspapers in Moscow, the Moskovskiy Komsomolets, launched a survey on its website to determine if the project was supported by its constituents from September 2 to October 1, 2010. The survey found that the proposals were supported by thousands of individuals and businesses, as well as government agencies in the city. The Moscow Department of Culture and the Moscow Department of Support and Development of Small and Middle Entrepreneurship (DSDSME) supported the recommendation of the RU-CENTER to create a Community Council to supervise the application for the TLDs. In 2011, the Foundation for Assistance for Internet Technologies and Infrastructure Development (FAITD) was established and took-over the responsibilities to manage the .moscow .москва project.

FAITID promoted the .moscow .москва Project during the 2010 RIPE NCC Moscow Regional Meeting, the ICANN 40 Meeting in San Francisco, the ICANN 43 Meeting in Costa Rica, and during various Internet events, conferences and international domain forum.

Application to ICANN

FAITD selected Sedari, a TLD business management service provider to help prepare the application for the TLDs with ICANN. FAITID Board Member Dmitry Burkov expressed his confidence in the Sedari management and cited the company's knowledge and expertise in TLDs and ICANN procedures. He said, "Implementation of any TLD is a complicated project with many issues to resolve. That’s why we’ve chosen Sedari as our strategic international partner for .MOSCOW and .МОСКВА. Sedari management has the experience and industry knowledge on ICANN that makes us confident the company is familiar with all the procedures of the corporation, in particular related to new TLDs. Together with Sedari we’ll make the project for Moscow top-level domains successful giving Russian users more choice in the domain name space."

On April 12, 2012, the foundation confirmed that its application for the .москва and .moscow TLDs had been submitted to ICANN and that it had paid the requisite $185,000 for each application. FAITID also said that the standard price for registration fee for every domain name will be set at 600 Roubles (20$).

Supporters

As of May 2012, there are 17,666 supporters for the .moscow .москва project. Letters of endorsements were received from the following government agencies and officials in Moscow:

• Moscow Department of Support and Development of Small and Middle Entrepreneurship
• Moscow Department of Culture
• Minister of Moscow Government Artyom Ermolaev
• Moscow Government
• Department of Information Technology of Moscow
• Coordination Center for TLD RU
• Russian Association for Electronic Communications

Contract Signed

On 19 December 2013 Foundation for Assistance for Internet Technologies and Infrastructure Development received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .moscow after passing all the required processes needed to become a Registry Operator for the string.

Top-Level Domain