On the 21st of June 2013 ICANN completed its initial evaluation procedure for the .MOSCOW domain application filed by the Foundation for Assistance for Internet Technologies and Infrastructure Development within the framework of the New gTLD Program. Following the evaluation process outcome, the application has collected enough scores for the domain delegation.

Earlier, the Foundation’s application for the .МОСКВА domain in Cyrillic was has also successfully passed the initial evaluation stage. Thus, in the nearest future, the dedicated domains for the Russian capital will be implemented. According to the Foundation’s plan, the Cyrillic domain name registration may roll out as soon as in late 2013, while the Latin script TLD names may be ready for registration in the first half of 2014.

“Last December ICANN used a special drawing procedure to determine the priority of the new top level domain introduction,” said Dmitry Burkov, Foundation Board Chairman. “Following the draw results, the .МОСКВА domain will be delegated first, to be followed by the .MOSCOW extension. We have some plans underway to start up the Sunrise registration period within the .МОСКВА domain in late 2013 and to have it completed at the same time with the similar period within the .MOSCOW extension, after it has been delegated. All the subsequent stages of the name registration launch within the both domains will be synchronised.”

The Open Registration period within the .MOSCOW and .МОСКВА domains is to be preceded, apart from the priority stages for the owners of the means of individualization, by the Landrush period.

The name registration within the .MOSCOW and .МОСКВА domains will be provided by the accredited registrars. The registration fee during the open registration period within the domains for the City of Moscow is expected to amount to about $USD20 per one domain name, which is comparable to the name registration fee within the Russian ccTLDs .RU and .РФ. The name registration fee within the .MOSCOW and .МОСКВА domains at the priority and Landrush stages will be a higher one.

As per the available forecasts, during the first year of its operation, approximately 300 to 500 thousand domain names will be registered the .MOSCOW extension, while the .МОСКВА string will have from 100 to 150 thousand registrations in a first year. Three years after, the number of registrations within both the domains are to total 1 million.

At present, the Foundation is drafting a set of documents to regulate the domain registration procedure within the .MOSCOW and .МОСКВА extensions. Shortly the negotiations will start in order to determine the clauses of the agreement FAITID will enter into with ICANN to manage the strings.