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Governments say new gTLD program “credibility” at stake

Kevin Murphy, August 20, 2025, 12:12:00 (UTC), Domain Policy

ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee is “deeply concerned” about the credibility of the new gTLD program’s Next Round, after a scheme to broaden the geographic spread of applicants has started to look like a failure.

The GAC and ALAC are calling for ICANN to address urgently what is seen as flaws in its Applicant Support Program, which offers deep discounts on application fees to small businesses in non-developed countries and to non-profit applicants.

GAC chair Nicolas Caballero and ALAC chair Jonathan Zuck said governments are “deeply concerned about the program’s current trajectory, particularly given the limited time remaining in the application window and the disproportionately low representation from underserved regions”.

ICANN said last week that it has approved the first three ASP applicants. One applicant is from Europe and two are from the Asia-Pacific region.

The latest monthly stats, dated July 23, show that only five applications were classified as “Submitted & in Review”, while 25 were “Initiated” and 26 were “In Draft”. By geography, 10 potential applications come from Africa, 16 from Asia-Pacific, four from Europe, 19 from North America and just two from Latin America.

Caballero and Zuck wrote (pdf):

we also identified a geographic imbalance from ICANN’s data… despite seven months of outreach, potential applications from North America (33%) vastly outnumber those from the LAC region (3%), raising questions about the inclusivity of the program.

…

we really think that the ASP is not merely a procedural requirement but a cornerstone of the Next Round’s credibility. At minimum, failure to address its structural challenges risks perpetuating the dominance of well-resourced entities, undermining ICANN’s multistakeholder principles. We kindly request the Board to treat this matter with the urgency it demands

They want ICANN to conduct a fast review of why the geographic balance is tilted towards North America at the expense of Latin America, Asia and Africa.

As I’ve previously noted, the North America region by ICANN’s definition is small. It doesn’t even include Mexico. Small businesses from the USA and Canada don’t qualify for the ASP and the only other places in the region are US island territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam.

The GAC and ALAC want to know whether the low uptake elsewhere is due to ICANN’s lack of local outreach, complexities in the application process, or costs. Why are draft applications not being submitted?

With the clock ticking down to the November 19 closure of the application window, The August 15 letter calls for ICANN to figure out what’s going wrong and let it know by August 22 — this coming Friday.

Even if it wasn’t August, and we weren’t talking about ICANN, that’s a pretty tight deadline.

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Comments (5)

  1. avri doria says:
    August 20, 2025 at 1:42 pm

    re: “The USA and Canada don’t qualify for the ASP.”

    The ASP is not limited by country but by income & entity’s nature. check out doc, even the most basic of the ASP doc, like the quick start guide p2.

    Reply
  2. Rubens Kuhl says:
    August 20, 2025 at 3:40 pm

    The reasons for low uptake were brought forward by many participants, myself included, during PDP, GGP and IRT… and all of them not related to ASP, but to overall heavy burden of the new gTLD program.

    ASP can only provide a pool to swim during the application, and them let the ones that succeed deal with the open and hazardous sea of the gTLD contracts.

    Reply
  3. Phil B says:
    August 21, 2025 at 11:58 pm

    Hi Kevin,
    Updates !

    I have been a participant/ member of the Sub Pro Applicant Support Program ( ASP ) PDP since the start.
    Clearly, many GAC members haven’t even bothered to read the ASP Handbook , let alone participate in the ASP WG. The ASP Handbook has very clearly, very (too) restrictive & strictly defined eligibility criteria to apply for Applicant Support . The country of the ASP applicant is totally irrelevant.

    The stark reality is ICANN has had 100 & 100s of enquiries , but the additional costs ( despite a $200K discount on the (application) fees) to apply in the 2026 Round is too prohibitive , potential ASP applicants have zero knowledge& interest to operate a TLD, its seen as too risky, not commercially viable , has little usage for their communities & these monies can been spent more effectively elsewhere.
    However , despite this, ICANN is fully on track to meet its budgeted target to fund / support 45 ASP applications.(by 19 November ) That is a huge improvement on the 1 successful ASP applicant in the 2012 Round !

    Reply
  4. Christa Taylor says:
    August 22, 2025 at 5:28 pm

    I share the concerns being expressed. Having taken part in the SubPro discussions on the Applicant Support Program (ASP), I recall outreach was always a central issue. SubPro recognized that relying on the ICANN community alone would not be sufficient – it emphasized local partnerships with business associations, NGOs, academic institutions, and internet governance groups, as well as engaging local champions to build trust in underserved regions. The program also intended to include developing economies, nonprofits, and community groups that might not come forward without proactive engagement.

    At the same time, the data shows that over 50 applications remain in “initiated” or “draft” status. The key question is why they are not progressing – are applicants losing interest, realizing they don’t qualify, or encountering barriers within the process itself? This highlights the need not just for broader outreach, but for more precise targeting and tailored support from the outset. By analyzing where applicants disengage and applying those insights to a more tailored local approach, ICANN could both assist those still in limbo and strengthen the program’s ability to attract and support new applicants within the remaining time.

    Reply

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