GMO Registry Signs ICANN Registry Agreement for .Yokohama

GMO Registry announced today that it has signed a contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to operate the new gTLD .Yokohama.

You can read the press release after the jump:

“GMO Internet Group company, GMO Registry, today announces it has signed a contract with the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to operate new geographic Top Level Domain, .yokohama.

Between January and May of 2012, ICANN began accepting applications for new gTLDs, setting afoot what is becoming the biggest expansion the Internet namespace has ever seen. With the support of the City of Yokohama government, GMO Registry applied for .yokohama and in August 2013 successfully passed Initial Evaluation. The .yokohama contract signing on December 14, 2013, marked the third Registry Agreement signed by GMO Registry. The company is already preparing to launch new GeoTLDs, .tokyo and .nagoya in early 2014.

The next stage in the process for .yokohama is pre-delegation testing. Following the successful completion of testing it is expected that the new gTLD will be ready to launch mid-year 2014. Registration will be completely open – no local address will be required.

Other Applied-for GeoTLDs

GMO Registry is already the Registry Operator for .tokyo and .nagoya, GeoTLDs that represent other major cities in Japan. The company is also one of two applicants for .osaka, and it is expected that the successful applicant will be determined by negotiation between the applicants or by auction.”