20 May 2011 11:15
For immediate release: 20 May 2011
Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
("TLDH" or the "Company")
Corporate update
As previously announced on 21 March 2011, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") Board of Directors resolved at its meeting in San Francisco that concluded on 18 March 2011 that it intended to complete the process for final approval of the new generic top-level domains ("gTLDs") implementation program at an extraordinary meeting of the ICANN Board to be held on Monday, 20 June 2011, at the next ICANN public meeting in Singapore.
If the new gTLD program is approved as planned in June, the Directors of TLDH expect that the window for new gTLD applications will open in September or October of 2011. The Directors believe that Company and its subsidiary, Minds + Machines, is well positioned for the forthcoming new gTLD program.
Since March the Company has continued to prepare for the launch of gTLDs and the Board is delighted that Minds + Machines, a wholly owned subsidiary of TLDH, has been appointed by India TL Domain Pvt Ltd ("ITLD"), with the exclusive approval of the city of Mumbai, to provide registry and consulting services for ITLD's proposed application for the generic top-level domain .MUMBAI.
In a letter to the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Ms. Shailaja V. Girkar, Deputy Mayor of Mumbai, wrote:
"The city of Mumbai fully and exclusively supports the application of India TL Pvt Ltd for .Mumbai. We believe that this application best represents the interests and the community of the City of Mumbai and we request that ICANN approve this application."
Antony Van Couvering, CEO of TLDH, commented:
"Mumbai is a world city and is India's commercial and cultural center. Like any great city, Mumbai has its own unique identity, recognised worldwide. We're proud that Minds + Machines has been chosen by ITLD to help put Mumbai on the Internet stage."
For further information, please contact:
Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
North America
Antony Van Couvering
Tel: +1 917 406 7126
Europe
David Weil
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7881 0180
Nominated Adviser to the Company
Beaumont Cornish Limited
Roland Cornish / Michael Cornish
Tel +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
gth media relations
Toby Hall /Christian Pickel
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3103 3903
About Top Level Domain Holdings Limited, http://tldh.org
Top Level Domain Holding is a publicly traded holding company listed on the London AIM market. The company is focused on the new top-level domain space. Top-level domains, such as .com, run by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and .biz, run by NeuStar (NYSE: NSR), are regulated by ICANN. ICANN has announced plans to expand the number of top-level domains. TLDH intends to make targeted investments in this space, focusing on both infrastructure technologies and specific top-level domains.
About Minds + Machines, http://mindsandmachines.com
Minds + Machines is a registry services provider that works internationally with commercial organisations, cities, not-for-profits and entrepreneurs to secure and operate new web domains, known as top-level domains (TLDs). Minds + Machines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Top Level Domains Holdings, Ltd.
About .MUMBAI
Mumbai is India's most populous city with over 12.5 million inhabitants and generates 5% of India's GDP, 25% of industrial output and 70% of India's capital transactions. It is also home to major Indian financial institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.
ENDS