Future top level domains could be .travel, .shop , or .biz. Surprisingly no bid for .eu, a widely expected domain, appears to have been made. The number of new domains created will be between 3 and 10, depending on demand. Those companies wishing to run a Top level domain needed to have submitted a proposal, with a US$50,000, non-refundable fee by early October. The first public consultation period for the names proposed is 9-27th October. The final decision of which will be adopted should be reached by the end of this year.
Many domain names have been sold already - despite the fact that they may not be approved. For those who have bought names that do not get issued or that are issued by a different company it will be money wasted. For those who have bought desirable names from the right company it could be a fortune made. Will www.travel.shop go for millions or not even be?
ICANN is a private, non-profit making organisation created 2 years ago as a collation of user, business, technical and academic representatives to develop policies to maintain New Domain Ranges, IP addresses and port number, all of which must be 'globally unique'.
The funding of the organisation currently comes from voluntary contributions e.g from country registration bodies (such as Nominet UK), although in the future more formal arrangements are expected.
![[Back]](../back.gif)