Quite important comment to respond : it is a continuity of the work started with the new gTLD applicant support Working Group or JAS that was pushed by NCSG in Kenya meeting in 2010 and initiated as joint cross community group between GNSO and ALAC. The WG provided several recommendations to the board to support applicants form developing countries and in particular non-profit to become registries. unfortunately the board acted too late and there was no enough outreach during the critical time of application period.

There were also requests from African and MENA strategy working group to (Amr and me were members of the latter) to support more DNS industry in developing countries in order to have more registrars.

the report outlines several issues and barriers for any entrepreneur from developing countries to be an ICANN accredited registrar. they are due to ICANN requirements and to the registrar accreditation agreement which is the contract between registrar and ICANN.

having more registrars and registries from Africa, LAC, AP is important to serve users more closely and for strengthening internet infrastructure in developing countries. registries and registrars are part of the internet ecosystem and their presence is enabler for more local content (providing cheaper access to hosting service since registrars usually provide bundled services etc). it will important to support non for profit model to serve communities.

I think that I will start drafting a comment and welcome any volunteer to join me in this effort. we have other comments in parallel and we will try to share the workload. just contact me .

Best Regards,

Rafik