YOU have 38 DAYS to help ICANN decide who runs .TEL: from 1 March 2017 !

It appears Telnic's disastrous 10-year tenure of the .TEL gTLD, which expired on 30 May 2016, has been temporarily extended by ICANN until the end of February 2017.

ICANN now have a consultation process in place regarding Telnic continuing to run .TEL from 1 March 2017.

So if you don't wish this to happen YOU have 38 DAYS left in ICANN's consultation process to have your say.

Here's how you do this:

1. Go to https://www.icann.org/users/sign_up

2. Create a Free ICANN Account by entering your Full Name, Email Address and Password (must contain one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one numeric, one special character e.g. >).

3. Go to your email inbox and confirm your email address using the ICANN email there.

4. Login at https://www.icann.org/users/sign_in

5. Read https://www.icann.org/public-comments/tel-renewal-2016-08-04-en and make your comments to the ICANN Staff Contact krista.papac@icann.org by clicking the email link at bottom of page. 

That's it - you can now influence who runs .TEL from 1 March 2017 - but remember there are only 38 DAYS left (from today 6 August 2016) to make your feelings known to ICANN !

http://MikeSeaton.tel

Brief Overview

Purpose: [ltr]ICANN[/ltr] is posting for public comment the proposed agreement for renewal of the 2006 Registry Agreement for .TEL. This proposal is a result of bilateral negotiations between [ltr]ICANN[/ltr]and Telnic Limited.
Current Status: As per Article 4.2 of the .TEL Registry Agreement, .TEL Registry Agreement shall be renewed upon the expiration of the initial term set forth in Article 4.1 of the agreement. Currently, the .TEL Registry Agreement will expire on 1 March 2017.
Next Steps: After the public comment period has concluded, the proposed agreement will be considered for execution, in light of the summary and analysis of the comments.

Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose

[ltr]ICANN[/ltr] is posting for public comment the proposed agreement for renewal of the 2006 Registry Agreement for .TEL which is set to expire on 1 March 2017. The renewal proposal is a result of discussions between [ltr]ICANN[/ltr] and Telnic Limited (the Registry Operator for the .TEL [ltr]TLD[/ltr]).
As discussed and agreed to by [ltr]ICANN[/ltr] and Telnic Limited, the renewal agreement is based on the approved new [ltr]gTLD[/ltr] Registry Agreement as updated on 9 January 2014. However, in order to account for the specific nature of the .TEL [ltr]TLD[/ltr], relevant provisions in the 30 May 2006 Sponsored [ltr]TLD[/ltr] Registry Agreement have been carried over to this renewal agreement.
As a result, the proposed renewal agreement for .TEL is similar to the terms of a Registry Agreement for a new [ltr]gTLD[/ltr], except for the following provisions:

• Protection of Legal Rights of Third Parties (section 2.8 and Specification 7): processes and procedures for the launch of the [ltr]TLD[/ltr] and initial registrations will not apply as the .TEL [ltr]TLD[/ltr] has been in operation since 2005.
  
• Continued Operation Instrument (section 2.12 and Specification 8): this requirement will not apply to the .TEL [ltr]TLD[/ltr] which has been and remained in continuous operations for at least 6 years prior to the anticipated effective date of the renewal agreement. As a result, provisions in section 4.3 (b) and (c) (Termination by [ltr]ICANN[/ltr]) is not applicable to the .TEL[ltr]TLD[/ltr] either.
  
• Pass Through Fees related to the Trademark Clearinghouse (section 6.4): consistently with the above provision on the protection of legal rights, .TEL will not be subject to the payment of the Trademark Clearinghouse related fees.
  
• Approved Services (Exhibit A): In addition to the common descriptions of the [ltr]DNS[/ltr], Anti-Abuse Services, and Whois Contact Lookup, the Approved services for .TEL includes a 270-day implementation grace period to allow sufficient time for Telnic Limited to complete the transition of its technical operations to meet all the requirement of the proposed renewal agreement. The Approved Services for .TEL includes “Bulk Transfer After Partial Portfolio Acquisition (BTAPPA)” which was incorporated to the .TEL Registry Agreement on 25 February 2016 as Amendment No.5 and also (i) Registry Controlled [ltr]DNS[/ltr] Records Service (ii) Domain data change notifications, (iii) Whois private contact information opt-out for Individuals (iv) Special Access Service (v) Additional RDDS Data Fields. Additionally, Approved Services for .TEL includes Internationalized Domain Names ([ltr]IDNs[/ltr]).
  
• Schedule of Reserved Names (Specification 5): the proposed renewal registry agreement reflects the current provisions in Amendment 3 (dated 17 November 2010) regarding the changes in Appendix 6 (Schedule of Reserved Names) permitting the registry operator to allocate previously reserved one- and two-character names through [ltr]ICANN[/ltr]-accredited registrars via a Phased Allocation Program. On the other hand, all single-character numerical labels are reserved at the second level.  Additionally, the provision on the Registry Operator’s use of up to 100 names for the operation and promotion of the [ltr]TLD[/ltr](Section 3.2) and the provisions on activation of names relating to International Olympic Committee; International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Section 3.5) and names relating to Intergovernmental Organizations Section 3.6) are not included in the proposed renewal registry agreement.
  
• Registry Interoperability and Continuity (section 2.7 and Specification 6): Section 6 of Specification 6 (Name Collision Occurrence Management) will not apply to .TEL [ltr]TLD[/ltr] since it has been in operation since 2006.
  
• Minimum Requirements for Rights Protection Mechanisms (Specification 7): the .TEL[ltr]TLD[/ltr] will neither be subject to RPMs set forth in the Trademark Clearinghouse and nor to the Registry Restrictions Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP) which was designed specifically for community TLDs under the New [ltr]gTLD[/ltr] program.
  
• Public Interest Commitments (Specification 11): The existing Registration Restrictions in Appendix S of the .TEL Agreement are proposed to be removed and replaced with the set of standard public interest commitments applicable to all new gTLDs with the exception of removal of the provision that requires RO to comply with any public commitments set forth in RO’s application.
  
• Community Registration Policies (Specification 12): As part of the adaptation needed to carry over the Sponsored [ltr]TLD[/ltr] Policies of .TEL to the proposed renewal agreement, Specification 12 incorporates the language of the original Appendix S (applicable under the current .TEL [ltr]TLD[/ltr] Agreement) with the following modifications:
  
  
  
  • Part IV of Appendix S (“Start-Up Plan”) was not included in the proposed renewal agreement as it is no longer relevant.
    
  • Part VI of Appendix S (“Public Whois Specification”) was not included in Specification 12 because it is now incorporated to Approved Services (Exhibit A)
    
  • This section removes the requirement that the Registry control the name servers of delegated domain names, and the restriction that registrants cannot define the contents of the zone for their domain names; and
    
  
  
  
• Misc. Provisions: Various other terms and conditions have been modified, at the request of the registry operator and after negotiation, to align with terms of the previous .TEL Sponsored [ltr]TLD[/ltr] Agreement or to clarify rights previously afforded to .TEL.
  

[size]
In connection with the renewal of the legacy .TEL registry agreement, the [ltr]TLD[/ltr] is transitioning to the base [ltr]gTLD[/ltr] registry agreement. At this time, [ltr]ICANN[/ltr] and the Registry Operator have agreed to implement the incorporation of terms unique to a legacy [ltr]TLD[/ltr], such as .TEL, through an "Addendum" to the Registry Agreement. The Addendum will amend the terms of the .TEL registry agreement. Where the Addendum states that a provision will have “no force or effect”, it means that the identified provision will not be read as part of the .TEL registry agreement. The terms of the Addendum will not be affected by future global amendments under Section 7.6 or 7.7 of the existing new [ltr]gTLD[/ltr] registry agreement, which will enable future global amendments to proceed while preserving the unique terms applicable to the legacy [ltr]TLD[/ltr].  

Posted for public comment are both clean and "redline" versions of the agreement, and the proposed Addendum to the Registry Agreement as follows:
[/size]

• Proposed Renewal Registry Agreement [PDF, 655 KB]
  
• Redline showing changes compared to the approved base New [ltr]gTLD[/ltr] Agreement [PDF, 732 KB]
  
• Proposed Addendum to the Registry Agreement [PDF, 68 KB]
  

[size]
Contractual Compliance Review:  As part of the renewal process, [ltr]ICANN[/ltr] conducted a review of contractual compliance under the .TEL Registry Agreement. Telnic Limited was found to be in substantial compliance with their contractual requirements.[/size]

Section II: Background

[ltr]ICANN[/ltr] and Telnic Limited entered into a Sponsored [ltr]TLD[/ltr] Registry Agreement on 30 May 2006 for operation of the .TEL top level domain. Based on this Registry Agreement, the effective date of the agreement is the delegation date of .TEL [ltr]TLD[/ltr], which is 2 March 2007. The current agreement for .TEL, which will expire on 1 March 2017, may be viewed at:https://www.icann.org/resources/unthemed-pages/tel-2012-02-25-en.
Similarly, in 2015, registry agreements of several “legacy” gTLDs , namely .JOBS, .TRAVEL, .CAT and .PRO Registry Agreements, were renewed based on the new [ltr]gTLD[/ltr] Registry Agreement as a result of bilateral negotiations between [ltr]ICANN[/ltr] and the related Registry Operator. These renewed agreements can be viewed at:https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/registries/registries-agreements-en.

Section III: Relevant Resources

• Current .TEL Registry Agreement and Appendices:https://www.icann.org/resources/unthemed-pages/tel-2012-02-25-en
  
• Approved base New [ltr]gTLD[/ltr] Registry Agreement (as updated on 9 January 2014):http://newgtlds.icann.org/sites/default/files/agreements/agreement-approved-09jan14-en.htm
  

Section IV: Additional Information

Section V: Reports

Staff Contact

Krista Papac

https://www.icann.org/public-comments/tel-renewal-2016-08-04-en

The first comment re Telnic's proposed renewal of the .TEL Registry Agreement has now been posted at http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-tel-renewal-04aug16/msg00000.html

Only 34 Days Left to add your own comment !

http://MikeSeaton.tel

Is closing .tel one of the options ICAAN is considering?

TelBlogger wrote:Is closing .tel one of the options ICAAN is considering?

After Telnic has completely destroyed .tel, it would be in the best interest of all registrants.

Since .tel has failed, it would be wise to protect the public against waisting time and money for this TLD.

It still happens that people register or renew .tel domains. After this happened, people don't know what to do with it.

Hence, it's better to shut this TLD down.

mikeseaton wrote:5. ... make your comments to the ICANN Staff Contact krista.papac@icann.org by clicking the email link at bottom of page.

Please don't send your comments directly to the ICANN staff.
To submit your comment, you have to send it through e-mail to comments-tel-renewal-04aug16@icann.org!
You can find the link under the section "Contents" on top left at: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/tel-renewal-2016-08-04-en

You can get an overview about all posted comments here: https://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-tel-renewal-04aug16/
The 5 commentators so far are very happy with Telnic.

as wrote:You can get an overview about all posted comments here: https://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-tel-renewal-04aug16/

Mark Kolb makes the comment at the link above:

There is also the parallel TelNames .TEL implementation with a different
style which is very valuable. I have 100+ customers that use this format as
well, besides my own hundreds of directories using several basic .TEL
formats.

Just to make it clear YOU CAN NO LONGER REGISTER A TELNAMES FORMAT .TEL UNLESS  YOU ALREADY HAD AT LEAST ONE TELNAMES .TEL ON 1ST FEBRUARY 2016 (WHEN ALL TELNAMES .TEL ACCOUNTS WERE TRANSFERRED TO INTERNET.BS) !

See http://www.telnames.com which redirects to https://internetbs.net/telnames.html and note the statement below from Telnames new owners Internet.bs:

Is my Telnames design changing to the standard Registrar .tel design?

No. All existing Telnames customers will continue to use the more advanced Telnames hosting setup. All new domain registrations through existing customer accounts will also use the more advanced Telnames hosting setup. In the future you may be given the option to choose which .tel website design you prefer but for now the Telnames design is the only design available through www.internet.bs for existing Telnames customers. www.internet.bs new customers and existing customers will continue to use the standard TelNIC registrar offering.

http://MikeSeaton.tel

PS. IMO this is a BIG MISTAKE by Internet.bs as I believe the availability of the Telnames format for New Registrants is essential to the survival of the .Tel extension !

Well, just added my comments on my experience registering a .tel and the usefulness of Telnic's product in general. Hopefully it balances out all the positive emails so far.

Does Telnic intend to only partially run the proxy service and only if the registrant opts in for it to provide that service?

Or is it outright wishing to remove the DNS proxy service from sale to the public or is it gradually removing it from sale to the public? and or is it only now wishing to deal with registrars who will run their own proxy while letting everyone else do what they want with a tel domain.

AKA is telnic letting us decide if we want to use their proxy or a 3rd party proxy and if not we can host our own tel websites on any server we choose? thus doing away with those of us not satisfied with what they provided so we can go it alone?
(removes the requirement that the Registry control the name servers of delegated domain names,)

And is Telnic allowing us to decide what we wish to put in the DNS? so we're not restricted to just contact data?
(restriction that registrants cannot define the contents of the zone for their domain names)

because if you read below:

Public Interest Commitments (Specification 11): The existing Registration Restrictions in Appendix S of the .TEL Agreement are proposed to be removed and replaced with the set of standard public interest commitments applicable to all new gTLDs with the exception of removal of the provision that requires RO to comply with any public commitments set forth in RO’s application.

Community Registration Policies (Specification 12):

This section removes the requirement that the Registry control the name servers of delegated domain names, and the restriction that registrants cannot define the contents of the zone for their domain names; and

Misc. Provisions: Various other terms and conditions have been modified, at the request of the registry operator and after negotiation, to align with terms of the previous .TEL Sponsored TLD Agreement or to clarify rights previously afforded to .TEL.

Bare in mind yourbusiness.tel has been dropped and Telnic don't market tel anymore as a product.
A Chinese company is buying up domains in bulk again, perhaps to sell on for profit at a later date when Telnic opens up the extension to be hosted on any server?

@whatthetel

That's a splash!

But can this rescue .tel?

With these changes, what's the benefit of .tel in comparison to the more than 1,000 new TLDs?

Read very thoroughly by WhatTheTel! Thank you for clarification!

MWX wrote:With these changes, what's the benefit of .tel in comparison to the more than 1,000 new TLDs?

If .tel will look exactly the same like other extensions, then I would rather prefer .club or .online.

FrankW. wrote:

MWX wrote:With these changes, what's the benefit of .tel in comparison to the more than 1,000 new TLDs?

If .tel will look exactly the same like other extensions, then I would rather prefer .club or .online.

But .tel will be the only extension with the additional benefit of potential storing of machine-readable data.

At the same time, .tel will lose all previous disadvantages that have prevented the success in the past.

4444 wrote:At the same time, .tel will lose all previous disadvantages that have prevented the success in the past.

Is it not a little late for this? Why Telnic hasn't acted many years ago?
Long ago, many community members have tried to convince Telnic canceling the DNS restrictions (as there still was a community).
But Telnic was always lazy and ignorant against improvements.

as wrote:Please don't send your comments directly to the ICANN staff.
To submit your comment, you have to send it through e-mail to comments-tel-renewal-04aug16@icann.org!
You can find the link under the section "Contents" on top left at: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/tel-renewal-2016-08-04-en

You can get an overview about all posted comments here: https://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-tel-renewal-04aug16/
The 5 commentators so far are very happy with Telnic.

What is with the other forum members and readers?

Don't you want to file your opinion to ICANN as described above, too?

ixida wrote:What is with the other forum members and readers?

Don't you want to file your opinion to ICANN as described above, too?

After you have sent your comment to comments-tel-renewal-04aug16@icann.org , you have to confirm the link sent to you by e-mail from ICANN.
After that your comment will be considered.

as wrote:

ixida wrote:What is with the other forum members and readers?

Don't you want to file your opinion to ICANN as described above, too?

After you have sent your comment to comments-tel-renewal-04aug16@icann.org , you have to confirm the link sent to you by e-mail from ICANN.
After that your comment will be considered.

@as - thanks for the note about the ICANN email confirmation you have to respond to - it comes very quickly aa an autoresponder once you submit your email comments to comments-tel-renewal-04aug16@icann.org

http://MikeSeaton.tel

That was quick work by ICANN - my comments are now live at https://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-tel-renewal-04aug16/msg00007.html

http://MikeSeaton.tel

10 comments have been submitted so far.
1 more week to go!

The feedback is very clear and fully against Telnic.

I'm very curious to see if ICANN takes the clear message by the commentators seriously.

In this situation it would be absolute not acceptable if the extension of the registry agreement will be guaranteed towards Telnic.

We all would have all reasons for complaining if ICANN will ignore the filed feedback.

Indeed, the message to ICANN is very clear:

1. Kick Telnic out
2. Continue the operation of .tel
3. Allow normal websites under .tel

ixida wrote:

as wrote:Please don't send your comments directly to the ICANN staff.
To submit your comment, you have to send it through e-mail to comments-tel-renewal-04aug16@icann.org!
You can find the link under the section "Contents" on top left at: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/tel-renewal-2016-08-04-en

You can get an overview about all posted comments here: https://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-tel-renewal-04aug16/

LAST CHANCE TODAY (13 September) to have your say on whether Telnic continue to run .TEL !

http://MikeSeaton.tel

Wow! Much more extensive feedback has been provided close to end!

Done: in the last minute I voted for continue. I still have 173 tel-domains and want to keep them for me and customers. Most of them waiting to be developed. I'm still positive about .tel ! And don't forget SEO ;-)

Michael-Braunwarth wrote:Done: in the last minute I voted for continue.

Have you confirmed the link sent to you by e-mail from ICANN?
I can't see a response under your name.

You will have time until midnight to submit your comments.