Delegation of the عمان domain representing Oman in Arabic

ICANN has received a request to delegate the عمان domain, a country-code top-level domain representing Oman, to Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). ICANN Staff have assessed the request, and provide this report for the ICANN Board of Directors to consider.

Factual Information

Country

The “OM” ISO 3166-1 code from which the application’s eligibility derives, is designated for use to represent Oman.

String

The domain under consideration for delegation at the DNS root level is “عمان”1. This is represented in ASCII-compatible encoding according to the IDNA specification as “xn--mgb9awbf”. The individual Unicode code points that comprise this string are U+0639 U+0645 U+0627 U+0646.

In Arabic language, the string has a meaning equivalent and pronunciation to “Oman” in English. The string is expressed using the Arabic script.

Chronology of events

In 2002, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) was established “to regulate the Telecommunication Sector within the Sultanate of Oman” under the Telecommunications Regulatory Act issued by Royal Decree No. 30/2002.

In 2007, the Royal Decree No. 64/2007 was issued to update the Telecommunications Regulatory Act. The applicants state that the “responsibility for the عمان. (.oman) IDN ccTLD falls under the TRA’s jurisdiction” as noted in the section two, article (8) 10 Repeated of the Telecommunications Regulatory Act issued by this decree.

On 24 August 2010 an application was made to the “IDN Fast Track” process to have the string “عمان” recognised as representing Oman. The request was supported by the Research Council, Office of the Secretary General, as well as two Ministries and two Telecommunications companies.

On 4 October 2010, review by the IDN Fast Track DNS Stability Panel found that "the applied-for strings ... present none of the threats to the stability or security of the DNS identified in [the IDN Fast Track implementation plan] ... and present an acceptably low risk of user confusion". The request for the string to represent Oman was subsequently approved.

On 7 February 2012, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) commenced a request to ICANN for delegation of “عمان” as a top-level domain. During the next several months ICANN Staff were working with applicants on gathering the necessary information and documentation.

Proposed Sponsoring Organisation and Contacts

The proposed sponsoring organisation is the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), a governmental entity established by Royal Decree in 2002 “to regulate the Telecommunication Sector within the Sultanate of Oman.”

The proposed administrative contact is Mr. Mohammed Al-Kindi, Senior Manager, Technical Affairs unit/Manager of Domain Name and Numbering Department. The administrative contact is understood to be based in Oman.

The proposed technical contact is Mrs. Zainab Al-Farsi, Specialist in Numbering and Domain Name Department.

Evaluation of the Request

String Eligibility

The top-level domain is eligible for delegation under ICANN policy, as the string has been deemed an appropriate representation of Oman through the ICANN Fast Track String Selection process, and Oman is presently listed in the ISO 3166-1 standard.

Public Interest

The applicant states that the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) was mandated to become the registry operator of “عمان” according to Article (8) 10 of the Telecom Regulatory Act issued by Royal Decree No. 64/2007.

Explicit government support for the application was provided in a letter from the Ministry of Transport & Communications, Office of the Undersecretary for Communications and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Office of the Undersecretary for Commerce and Industry.

Additional support was provided in letters from the Research Council, Office of the Secretary General, as well as two Telecommunications Companies: Omantel and Nawras.

The application is consistent with known applicable local laws in Oman.

The proposed sponsoring organisation undertakes to operate the domain in a fair and equitable manner.

Based in country

The proposed sponsoring organisation is constituted in Oman. The proposed administrative contact is understood to be resident in Oman. The registry is to be operated in the country.

Stability

The application does not involve a transfer of domain operations from an existing domain registry, and therefore stability aspects relating to registry transfer have not been evaluated.

The application is not known to be contested.

Competency

The application has provided satisfactory details on the technical and operational infrastructure and expertise that will be used to operate the proposed new domain. The proposed operator is the current manager of .OM ASCII country code top-level domain for Oman. Proposed policies for management of the domain have also been tendered.

Evaluation Procedure

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is tasked with managing the Domain Name System root zone as part of a set of functions governed by a contract with the U.S. Government. This includes managing the delegations of top-level domains.

A subset of top-level domains are designated for the local Internet communities in countries to operate in a way that best suits their local needs. These are known as country-code top-level domains, and are assigned by ICANN to responsible trustees (known as “Sponsoring Organisations”) who meet a number of public-interest criteria for eligibility. These criteria largely relate to the level of support the trustee has from their local Internet community, their capacity to ensure stable operation of the domain, and their applicability under any relevant local laws.

Through an ICANN department known as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), requests are received for delegating new country-code top-level domains, and redelegating or revoking existing country-code top-level domains. An investigation is performed on the circumstances pertinent to those requests, and, when appropriate, the requests are implemented. Decisions on whether to implement requests are made by the ICANN Board of Directors, taking into account ICANN’s core mission of ensuring the stable and secure operation of the Internet’s unique identifier systems.

Purpose of evaluations

The evaluation of eligibility for country-code top-level domains, and of evaluating responsible trustees charged with operating them, is guided by a number of principles. The objective of the assessment is that the action enhances the secure and stable operation of the Internet’s unique identifier systems. The evolution of the principles has been documented in “Domain Name System Structure and Delegation” (RFC 1591), “Internet Domain Name System Structure and Delegation” (ICP-1), and other informational memoranda.

In considering requests to delegate or redelegate country-code top-level domains, input is sought regarding the proposed new Sponsoring Organisation, as well as from persons and organisations that may be significantly affected by the change, particularly those within the nation or territory to which the ccTLD is designated.

The assessment is focussed on the capacity for the proposed sponsoring organisation to meet the following criteria:

The domain should be operated within the country, including having its sponsoring organisation and administrative contact based in the country.
The domain should be operated in a way that is fair and equitable to all groups in the local Internet community.
Significantly interested parties in the domain should agree that the prospective trustee is the appropriate party to be responsible for the domain, with the desires of the national government taken very seriously.
The domain must be operated competently, both technically and operationally. Management of the domain should adhere to relevant technical standards and community best practices.
Risks to the stability of the Internet addressing system must be adequately considered and addressed, particularly with regard to how existing identifiers will continue to function.

Method of evaluation

To assess these criteria, information is requested from the applicant regarding the proposed sponsoring organisation and method of operation. In summary, a request template is sought specifying the exact details of the delegation being sought in the root zone. In addition, various documentation is sought describing: the views of the local internet community on the application; the competencies and skills of the trustee to operate the domain; the legal authenticity, status and character of the proposed trustee; and the nature of government support fort he proposal. The view of any current trustee is obtained, and in the event of a redelegation, the transfer plan from the previous sponsoring organisation to the new sponsoring organisation is also assessed with a view to ensuring ongoing stable operation of the domain.

After receiving this documentation and input, it is analysed in relation to existing root zone management procedures, seeking input from parties both related to as well as independent of the proposed sponsoring organisation should the information provided in the original application be deficient. The applicant is given the opportunity to cure any deficiencies before a final assessment is made.

Once all the documentation has been received, various technical checks are performed on the proposed sponsoring organisation’s DNS infrastructure to ensure name servers are properly configured and are able to respond to queries for the top-level domain being requested. Should any anomalies be detected, ICANN staff will work with the applicant to address the issues.

Assuming all issues are resolved, an assessment is compiled providing all relevant details regarding the proposed sponsoring organisation and its suitability to operate the top-level domain being requested. This assessment is submitted to ICANN’s Board of Directors for its determination on whether to proceed with the request.