Latest news of the domain name industry

Recent Posts

.dot is coming very soon

Kevin Murphy, July 6, 2026, Domain Registries

New new gTLD registry Dish DBS has revealed the launch dates for its .dot gTLD, and it’s coming pretty soon.

Information filed with ICANN shows that .dot is due to go to sunrise in just a couple weeks — from July 21 to October 19 — with a 12-day Early Access Period where early adopters can pay premium prices starting the next day.

General availability is scheduled for November 2. Pricing has not been revealed.

If you’re wondering about making a play for dot.dot, forget about it — the registry is using that as its primary domain for the gTLD.

The space will be open to all, with Dish describing it as “designed for builders and the things they create… products, communities, brands, or ideas worth a name of their own”.

It’s Dish’s second gTLD launch this year after .latino, which went GA on June 12.

.latino hasn’t exactly leapt out of the gates — it has fewer than 800 names in its zone file today and Google results are showing mainly a TLD-hopping movie piracy site and a Vietnamese gambling site.

Tucows sells off Ting business, retreats into the back-end

Kevin Murphy, August 3, 2020, Domain Registrars

Tucows has sold its Ting Mobile brand and customer based to DISH Network, repositioning itself as a provider of white-label back-end mobile services.

The company which is also the second-largest domain registrar, has found success in recent years as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) with Ting. Following the DISH deal, it will become a mobile services enabler, or MSE.

It’s basically a move away from providing customer-facing mobile services. Instead, it will provide the back-end technology platform, and DISH is its first customer.

CEO Elliot Noss said in a prerecorded statement:

We still get asked about the connective tissue between Domains and the mobile business, and it all boils down to our competence in billing, provisioning, and customer service for underserved technology markets.

He added that Tucows has been approached by other potential MSE partners over the years.

DISH gets to use the Ting brand for two years, with an option to acquire it at the end. Tucows will continue to offer Ting wired broadband services, but will change its name if DISH exercises the buyout option.

All Ting mobile customers have been handed over to DISH as of Saturday, but no money has changed hands up-front. Instead, Tucows expects to see increased margins over time from the cost savings and monthly fees DISH will pay it. It will also be paid for transitioning the business over to DISH.

Tucows expects the deal to be “neutral to slightly negative” to its 2020 earnings.

DISH is primarily a satellite television provider, but it entered the mobile market a month ago with the acquisition of Boost Mobile.