In 2011, the State Government of Victoria announced its plan to submit an application for the [[.victoria]] and [[.melbourne]] [[GeoTLD| geographical top level domain name]] via [[ICANN]]'s [[New gTLD Program]]. On October 19, 2011, the government issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking a partner to submit the application and to manage and operate the TLD under a revenue sharing agreement. <ref>[https://tenders.nsw.gov.au/dfs/?event=public.rft.showArchived&RFTUUID=F020CB28-D868-DD68-DFD741D90E8B3E2A Registry Operator to obtaining & operating multiple generic Top Level Domains]</ref> [[ARI Registry Services]], a leading registry service provider based in Australia, won the contract to operate the .victoria and melbourne TLDs. The company hired [[Ernst & Young]] and [[Melbourne IT]] to help prepare the application for the TLD. ARI Registry Service will also serve as registry operator for the [[.sydney]] string for the [[Government of New South Wales]]. | In 2011, the State Government of Victoria announced its plan to submit an application for the [[.victoria]] and [[.melbourne]] [[GeoTLD| geographical top level domain name]] via [[ICANN]]'s [[New gTLD Program]]. On October 19, 2011, the government issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking a partner to submit the application and to manage and operate the TLD under a revenue sharing agreement. <ref>[https://tenders.nsw.gov.au/dfs/?event=public.rft.showArchived&RFTUUID=F020CB28-D868-DD68-DFD741D90E8B3E2A Registry Operator to obtaining & operating multiple generic Top Level Domains]</ref> [[ARI Registry Services]], a leading registry service provider based in Australia, won the contract to operate the .victoria and melbourne TLDs. The company hired [[Ernst & Young]] and [[Melbourne IT]] to help prepare the application for the TLD. ARI Registry Service will also serve as registry operator for the [[.sydney]] string for the [[Government of New South Wales]]. |