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18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.yellowpagesTelstra Corporation Limitedsensis.com.auView
THE MISSION AND PURPOSE OF THE NEW RESTRICTED .YELLOWPAGES gTLD IS TO BENEFIT INTERNET USERS BY ENSURING INCREASED TRUST, CONVENIENCE AND UTILITY.

The .yellowpages gTLD will create a new generation gTLD serving the interests of end users by providing an authoritative Internet space where information, services and resources of the Yellow Pages brand and its affiliates and partners that are associated with the brand will be closely controlled by Telstra Corporation Limited (Telstra) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Sensis Pty Ltd (Sensis). The majority of the anticipated domain name registrations in the .yellowpages gTLD will be used in the promotion and communication of the Yellow Pages brand and its advertising and directory services. A subset of domain names has the potential to be created and used for communication and marketing purposes, with internet users assured of brand authenticity.

The first Yellow Pages directory using yellow paper was launched in 1975. The Yellow Pages directory was initially published and distributed by Telstra and is currently under the management of Sensis. Telstra is Australia’s leading telecommunications and information services company, with some of the best known brands in the country including the Yellow™ and Yellow Pages® brand. Telstra offers a full range of services and competes in all telecommunications markets throughout Australia, providing over 8 million Australian fixed line and 12 million mobile services. Telstra is also listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and generated a sales revenue of AUD25 billion for FY2011. Telstra and its international businesses employ over 39,000 people across Asia Pacific, North America and Europe. Its main activities include the provision of:

- basic access services to most homes and businesses in Australia;

- management of business customers’ IT and telecommunications services; and

- advertising, search and information services (through Sensis).


Arguably Australia’s leading information resource, Sensis helps Australians find, buy and sell by providing an integrated network of local search and digital marketing solutions such as the Yellow Pages®, White Pages® and CitySearch services. Over 12 million Australians use a Sensis service every month. Sensis currently manages the Yellow Pages® print, online and mobile directories and applications and voice services. Sensis seeks to maintain and build its position as Australia’s top provider of directories and local search services through the Yellow Pages® directory by focusing on building on its range of digital marketing services and its growth in new markets.

Every year, Yellow Pages® print directories are delivered to millions of homes and businesses across 6 metropolitan areas in Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney in Australia. With an extensive suite of digital products, about 4.5 million searches were made across Australia each week with yellowpages.com.au in 2010. When people need to find a business, they turn to the Yellow Pages® brand. The Yellow Pages® brand offers great opportunities to connect with people who are ready to buy and helps its users choose an advertising solution appropriate for their business. The Yellow Pages® products are all about connecting businesses with customers. In this regard, brand promotion and customer engagement are paramount considerations in Telstra’s application for .yellowpages.

These days, business activities are increasingly conducted over the internet, allowing for greater levels of interaction between businesses and customers. As a result, both businesses and end users benefit from ease of interaction and a wider range of choices with lower transaction costs. However, the development in this arena in the current domain name system has exposed both businesses and consumers to increased criminal activities over the internet, including data breaches, hacking and phishing. These sophisticated criminal activities cause reputational damage to businesses as internet users lose consumer confidence and trust with the businesses targeted by such criminal activities. The .yellowpages gTLD will facilitate greater trust and assurance from internet users connecting with Telstra and Sensis online, whilst still allowing convenient and efficient interaction.

Telstra’s mission and purpose of the proposed new gTLD share ICANN’s initiatives to promote public interest. Telstra is committed to contribute towards achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments, which includes:

- consumer trust: the .yellowpages gTLD registry will be operated in a centralised manner with a restrictive registration policy. Registration of domain names will only be available to Telstra and Sensis, at this stage, which will provide added consumer trust that .yellowpages domain names are trustworthy. As .yellowpages domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under Telstra’s control, this eliminates the possibility of malicious conduct within the .yellowpages domain space;

- competition: the proposed new gTLD is anticipated to contribute to ICANN’s initiatives to promote public interest through its operation focused on promoting consumer trust. Increased trust in the .yellowpages gTLD will drive existing and new top level domain (TLD) registry operators to make improvements in mechanisms to improve consumer trust of their TLDs; and

- consumer choice: the proposed new gTLD will enable user-driven improvements and innovations assisting Sensis and Telstra’s marketing efforts through its ability to create new second and third level domain names on demand. These names will provide consumers with more choices for interacting with Sensis and Telstra. As Telstra has effective control over the registration and use of domain names under the .yellowpages domain space, this will also contribute towards general service innovations on the internet.


Given the restricted nature of the .yellowpages gTLD, the projected number of registrations is likely to be limited. It is anticipated that approximately 500 domain names will be registered in the first year. However, over the next few years, the number of registrations is likely to increase to about 1000 domain names as Telstra and⁄or Sensis on its behalf develop and implement domain names in the second or third level of the .yellowpages gTLD into its suite of products and services and marketing campaigns.


Telstra believes that the .yellowpages gTLD is unlikely to cause confusion with either a generic term or any existing TLDs. Telstra is a leading global brand with a significant reputation in Australia as its leading telecommunications and information services company. Telstra has an extensive portfolio of Australian Yellow™ and Yellow Pages® trademarks including registrations for “Yellow Pages” and images including “Yellow Pages” in Australia for classes such as Computer software, publications in electronic form including those supplied online (9); Paper goods and printed matter (16); Advertising and business including over the internet (35); Telecommunications (38); Electronic publication of information (41); Website design and computer software design services and directory goods in electronic and non-electronic form (42) and Registration of domain names (45).

Further, Telstra has 3 domain names with an exact match to the applied-for .yellowpages string and its “Yellow Pages” trademark in yellowpages.com.au, yellowpages.asia and yellowpages.net.au and 25 domain names containing .yellowpages in spaces such as yellowpages-victoria.com.au, yellowpagesdeals.com and yellowpagesaustralia.com.au.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.banqueGEXBAN SASgexban.netView
THE MISSION AND PURPOSE OF THE NEW .APP gTLD IS TO BENEFIT THE COMMUNITY OF INDEPENDENT SOFTWARE APPLICATION (APP) DEVELOPERS AND PUBLISHERS, AND INTERNET USERS, BY CREATING AN INNOVATIVE DOMAIN SPACE WHICH PROVIDES FAIR AND OPEN ACCESS TO DESIRED DOMAIN NAMES FOR APPS.

The .app gTLD will create a new generation gTLD serving the interests of the community of independent app developers and publishers, consumers and internet users. TRI Ventures, Inc. (TRI Ventures) intends to create an innovative, fair and open .app domain space under which app developers and publishers can register their desired domain names and provide information and services regarding a wide range of published apps to internet users. TRI Ventures intends to offer domain names to the community of independent app developers and publishers to allow them to gain access to appropriate domain names for their published apps. The new user-friendly .app gTLD will provide an intuitive, easy to use, central location for internet users and consumers to discover new apps and find information about a large library of published apps.

Registrations for domain names under the .app gTLD will be available to the community of independent app developers and publishers. This will ensure that the .app gTLD provides a relevant domain space where the app development and publishing industry can develop websites that provide reliable information related to their app. App publishers that register .app domain names will enjoy the benefit of being part of a global online app community to connect with app users and other developers. Internet users will be able to easily access memorable second level domain names under the .app gTLD to find desired information about a wide range of apps.

TRI Ventures is a diverse private company that operates in a variety of markets, including marketing and design staffing solutions under the Aquent brand name. Since its formation in 1986, Aquent has grown to become a multinational talent agency with offices around the world. TRI Ventures was an early investor in Angie’s List, Inc. and remains a large shareholder after its IPO. In addition, TRI Ventures owns litl, a start-up company that focuses on creating hardware, software and apps. Litl has a number of apps in Apple and Android app stores. In this regard, continuous innovation and providing a high quality of service are of greatest importance for all of our business endeavours. The new .app gTLD will provide a valuable service to the community of independent app developers and publishers to easily acquire and expand naming options for their apps. The .app gTLD will provide open and fair access to app developers to register appropriate domain names under .app and provide a central, intuitive online location for consumers and internet users to find information about, search for and discover exciting new apps.

Since the inception of the current domain name system, business activities conducted on the internet are constantly changing and evolving with increased complexity. The volume of commercial transactions over the internet is constantly growing and bringing benefits of simplicity and lowered transaction costs to businesses and consumers. However, at the same time, criminal activities over the internet including data breach, hacking and phishing activities have also become more sophisticated resulting in loss of consumer confidence beyond mere monetary harm. The .app gTLD will foster greater trust and assurance from internet users connecting with app publishers online, whilst still allowing convenient and efficient interaction.

TRI Ventures’ mission and purpose of the gTLD share ICANN’s initiatives to promote public interest. TRI Ventures is committed to contribute towards achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments, which includes:

- CONSUMER TRUST: .app will only allow entities and persons with an interest in software applications (apps), who meet the eligibility requirements, to register domain names under the .app gTLD, as specified in the registration policy. The .app gTLD will create a globally recognisable, central location for app publishers, which will result in consumer trust and confidence in information and services provided under the .app domain space. As .app domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under TRI Ventures’ control, this limits the possibility of malicious conduct within .app;

- COMPETITION: the .app gTLD is intended to promote competition and consumer choice among prospective registrants in the app development and publishing industry, who will have a choice of gTLDs with which to register. The .app gTLD provides a competitive alternative to current TLDs by offering fair, open and easily accessible registrations under the .app domain space; and

- CONSUMER CHOICE: the new gTLD will enable user-driven improvements and innovations, with specific relevance to the app development industry and related services, with second and third level domains to be registered by app developers and publishers. This will allow consumers more choice for interacting with the app development industry, as well as encouraging competition between app developers to interact with consumers in a user-friendly manner. As TRI Ventures will put in place an appropriate policy for the registration and use of domain names under .app, this will also contribute towards general service innovations on the internet.


The projected number of registrations in the .app gTLD is likely to be around 26,000 domain names in the first year. However, over the next three years, the number of registrations is likely to increase to about 44,000 domain names as global recognition of the .app gTLD increases and as TRI Ventures implements new services and marketing campaigns.

As the new .app gTLD expands and evolves, TRI Ventures will continue to comply with all operational, technical and policy requirements, as well as maintaining consumer trust and the stability of the internet. TRI Ventures will keep ICANN reasonably informed of any material developments relating to .app gTLD including compliance with the continued operations instrument obligations as set out in Specification 8 of the Registry Agreement.

“App” is a generic term used to describe software applications, and as such, Tri Ventures believes that it should not be trademarked or controlled by a self-interested corporation or entity. TRI Ventures believes that a neutral third party should create and operate the .app domain space for the benefit of the app development and publishing community by offering fair, open and easy access to newly available and appropriate domain names related to their apps.