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Identity Digital takes over 25-year-old TLD

Kevin Murphy, May 20, 2026, Domain Registries

Identity Digital’s recent acquisition spree has continued, with the company recently taking over as registry operator for a sponsored gTLD that made its debut in 2001.

The registry’s affiliate, Jolly Host, has taken over .aero from aerospace trade group SITA, the Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautique, according to ICANN records.

.aero was one of the original “test-bed” new gTLDs that prevailed in the 2000 application round.

It’s a little different to a normal gTLD acquisition — .aero is a sponsored gTLD designed to serve a specific community, and there are registration restrictions in place.

The main barrier to registration is the requirement to be a member of the industry and have a SITA Membership ID, obtainable from the registry web site, before you can go to a registrar to get your name.

As such, SITA is not washing its hands entirely of the TLD. It will continue as .aero’s “Sponsor”, responsible for setting policy, with Identity Digital now contractually designated as “Registry Operator”.

.aero is cheaper to run that your typical gTLD. The registry contract calls for annual payments to ICANN of just $5,000, rather than the standard $25,000, as long as it has fewer than 50,000 domains under management.

It currently has about 13,000 domains in its zone file and renewals retail starting at about $40 per year.

The fact that .aero is currently sponsored and restricted doesn’t necessarily mean it will stay that way. There’s plenty of precedent, from .xxx to .med, of sponsored registries casting off their roots to broaden their appeal.

It’s the sixth gTLD contract Jolly Host has taken over so far this year after, .safety, .dot, .jot, .circle and .onl.

Russia calls for ICANN to split from US

Kevin Murphy, September 9, 2024, Domain Policy

The Russian government has called on ICANN to further distance itself from US legal jurisdiction, complaining that the current war-related sanctions could prevent its companies from applying for new gTLDs.

In recent comments, Russia said that “no single state or group of states should have the right to interfere in the operation of critical Internet infrastructure and/or the activities of ICANN, including the mechanisms for legal regulation of ICANN’s operations”.

It added that it is “necessary… to prepare by the ICANN community and stakeholders proposals for measures or mechanisms that can make ICANN less dependent on one state”.

The call came in comments filed in ICANN’s public comment period on the terms and conditions of the new gTLD program’s Applicant Support Program and Registry Service Provider Evaluation Program.

The Ts&Cs contain a clause requiring applicants to abide by all US economic sanctions, such as those overseen by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which has sanctioned Russian entities since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s comment was filed late and has not been published or analysed by ICANN in the usual way. Instead, it was appended to the summary report (pdf) prepared by ICANN staff.

It’s not the only war-related beef Russia has with ICANN right now. The government has also complained (pdf) that about 400 domains registered by Russian entities, including airports and airlines, in the .aero gTLD have been suspended.

The .aero registry, aerospace industry IT service provider SITA, is headquartered in Switzerland but the contracting entity is a US-based subsidiary.

According to OFAC, domain registration services are exempt from the US sanctions. That has not stopped several domain registries and registrars ceasing business with Russians on moral grounds.

ICANN told Russia to file a complaint about SITA with its Compliance department. SITA has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Calls for ICANN to distance itself from the US have been coming for over two decades, usually from America’s opponents, and did not stop when the Org severed its formal ties with the 2016 IANA transition.