Page History

Purpose: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is seeking feedback on the initial draft of the Latin American and Caribbean DNS Marketplace Study. The goal of this study is to identify and define the strengths and weaknesses in the industry ecosystem within the region, and develop recommendations on how to advance the industry and bring it closer to the opportunities available.

Current Status: Initial draft of the "Latin American and Caribbean DNS Marketplace Study" published for public comment.

Next Steps: Improvements based on community inputs in the draft study report for final version publication.

Commissioned in January 2016, the study investigates the current state of Internet and domain name industry, explore best practices for the uptake of domain names and analyze the ecosystem. It recommends new business potentials based on global benchmarks and propose a way forward for the region.

A consortium led by Oxford Information Labs, LACTLD, EURid and InterConnect Communications is conducting the study for ICANN.

ICANN's Latin America and the Caribbean Strategic Plan defined four key areas of interest as strategic focus for the region. Two of those, namely Capacity Building and Outreach; and Economic Issues contemplate aspects to further develop the domain name industry. After consultation with members of LAC Strategic Plan Steering Committee, a request for proposal to conduct the study was released in September 2015 to commission a study to investigate the current state of the Internet and the domain name industry in the region, define best practices that have made an impact in domain name market growth, look at the broader ecosystem of the Internet infrastructure and online services and describe the impact of such elements on the overall evolution of the domain name industry, describe the business potential in the domain name industry in this region, and provide suggestions on how to develop the industry and what business models can be adopted in the entire industry chain. The consortium led by Oxford Information Labs was then contracted in early 2016 and now presents the initial draft report for public comments.

LAC DNS Marketplace Study [PDF, 3.69 MB]