Domain Food - Archive - .mp tries to beat new sTLDs .mobi, .tel

Yet another ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) is trying to do an end-run around the slow progress of ICANN to add new gTLDs (global Top Level Domains).

The .mp extension, owned by the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific (a small USA commonwealth since 1978) is joining the ranks of Tuvalu (.tv), the Cocos Islands (.cc) and a list of others (.ws .nu .bz etc.) who are marketing and selling off their internet asset.

ICANN took applications for 10 sTLDs (sponsored top level domains) back in March. Among those applications are .mobi and .tel which are aimed towards the mobile phone market. But it may take a year or longer for any of those to get to market and there are no guarantees for their approval.

.mp aims to beat the pack by being available much sooner, starting their registration cycle right now. They have opened a sunrise period to allow companies with trademarks to pre-register through their website: http://www.sunrise.mp

It is unclear what has taken them so long, possibly finding the right marketeers, as there was news back in late 2000 when Procter & Gamble, reserved around 25,000 .mp domain names.

MarketPlace Domain Inc. is listed as a San Francisco-based domain name registrar for .mp It is owned by Saipan DataCom. which in 1996 was chosen by ICANN as the registry and administrator for .mp