gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.yellowpages	Telstra Corporation Limited	sensis.com.au	View

THE MISSION AND PURPOSE OF THE NEW RESTRICTED .YELLOWPAGES gTLD IS TO BENEFIT INTERNET USERS BY ENSURING INCREASED TRUST, CONVENIENCE AND UTILITY.

The .yellowpages gTLD will create a new generation gTLD serving the interests of end users by providing an authoritative Internet space where information, services and resources of the Yellow Pages brand and its affiliates and partners that are associated with the brand will be closely controlled by Telstra Corporation Limited (Telstra) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Sensis Pty Ltd (Sensis). The majority of the anticipated domain name registrations in the .yellowpages gTLD will be used in the promotion and communication of the Yellow Pages brand and its advertising and directory services. A subset of domain names has the potential to be created and used for communication and marketing purposes, with internet users assured of brand authenticity.

The first Yellow Pages directory using yellow paper was launched in 1975. The Yellow Pages directory was initially published and distributed by Telstra and is currently under the management of Sensis. Telstra is Australia’s leading telecommunications and information services company, with some of the best known brands in the country including the Yellow™ and Yellow Pages® brand. Telstra offers a full range of services and competes in all telecommunications markets throughout Australia, providing over 8 million Australian fixed line and 12 million mobile services. Telstra is also listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and generated a sales revenue of AUD25 billion for FY2011. Telstra and its international businesses employ over 39,000 people across Asia Pacific, North America and Europe. Its main activities include the provision of:

- basic access services to most homes and businesses in Australia;

- management of business customers’ IT and telecommunications services; and

- advertising, search and information services (through Sensis).


Arguably Australia’s leading information resource, Sensis helps Australians find, buy and sell by providing an integrated network of local search and digital marketing solutions such as the Yellow Pages®, White Pages® and CitySearch services. Over 12 million Australians use a Sensis service every month. Sensis currently manages the Yellow Pages® print, online and mobile directories and applications and voice services. Sensis seeks to maintain and build its position as Australia’s top provider of directories and local search services through the Yellow Pages® directory by focusing on building on its range of digital marketing services and its growth in new markets.

Every year, Yellow Pages® print directories are delivered to millions of homes and businesses across 6 metropolitan areas in Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney in Australia. With an extensive suite of digital products, about 4.5 million searches were made across Australia each week with yellowpages.com.au in 2010. When people need to find a business, they turn to the Yellow Pages® brand. The Yellow Pages® brand offers great opportunities to connect with people who are ready to buy and helps its users choose an advertising solution appropriate for their business. The Yellow Pages® products are all about connecting businesses with customers. In this regard, brand promotion and customer engagement are paramount considerations in Telstra’s application for .yellowpages.

These days, business activities are increasingly conducted over the internet, allowing for greater levels of interaction between businesses and customers. As a result, both businesses and end users benefit from ease of interaction and a wider range of choices with lower transaction costs. However, the development in this arena in the current domain name system has exposed both businesses and consumers to increased criminal activities over the internet, including data breaches, hacking and phishing. These sophisticated criminal activities cause reputational damage to businesses as internet users lose consumer confidence and trust with the businesses targeted by such criminal activities. The .yellowpages gTLD will facilitate greater trust and assurance from internet users connecting with Telstra and Sensis online, whilst still allowing convenient and efficient interaction.

Telstra’s mission and purpose of the proposed new gTLD share ICANN’s initiatives to promote public interest. Telstra is committed to contribute towards achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments, which includes:

- consumer trust: the .yellowpages gTLD registry will be operated in a centralised manner with a restrictive registration policy. Registration of domain names will only be available to Telstra and Sensis, at this stage, which will provide added consumer trust that .yellowpages domain names are trustworthy. As .yellowpages domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under Telstra’s control, this eliminates the possibility of malicious conduct within the .yellowpages domain space;

- competition: the proposed new gTLD is anticipated to contribute to ICANN’s initiatives to promote public interest through its operation focused on promoting consumer trust. Increased trust in the .yellowpages gTLD will drive existing and new top level domain (TLD) registry operators to make improvements in mechanisms to improve consumer trust of their TLDs; and

- consumer choice: the proposed new gTLD will enable user-driven improvements and innovations assisting Sensis and Telstra’s marketing efforts through its ability to create new second and third level domain names on demand. These names will provide consumers with more choices for interacting with Sensis and Telstra. As Telstra has effective control over the registration and use of domain names under the .yellowpages domain space, this will also contribute towards general service innovations on the internet.


Given the restricted nature of the .yellowpages gTLD, the projected number of registrations is likely to be limited. It is anticipated that approximately 500 domain names will be registered in the first year. However, over the next few years, the number of registrations is likely to increase to about 1000 domain names as Telstra and⁄or Sensis on its behalf develop and implement domain names in the second or third level of the .yellowpages gTLD into its suite of products and services and marketing campaigns.


Telstra believes that the .yellowpages gTLD is unlikely to cause confusion with either a generic term or any existing TLDs. Telstra is a leading global brand with a significant reputation in Australia as its leading telecommunications and information services company. Telstra has an extensive portfolio of Australian Yellow™ and Yellow Pages® trademarks including registrations for “Yellow Pages” and images including “Yellow Pages” in Australia for classes such as Computer software, publications in electronic form including those supplied online (9); Paper goods and printed matter (16); Advertising and business including over the internet (35); Telecommunications (38); Electronic publication of information (41); Website design and computer software design services and directory goods in electronic and non-electronic form (42) and Registration of domain names (45).

Further, Telstra has 3 domain names with an exact match to the applied-for .yellowpages string and its “Yellow Pages” trademark in yellowpages.com.au, yellowpages.asia and yellowpages.net.au and 25 domain names containing .yellowpages in spaces such as yellowpages-victoria.com.au, yellowpagesdeals.com and yellowpagesaustralia.com.au.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.sydney	State of New South Wales, Department of Premier and Cabinet	dpc.nsw.gov.au	View

The mission and purpose of the new .sydney gTLD is to promote the city of Sydney, including its residents, culture, events, commerce, institutions and landmarks by creating a dedicated, authoritative online space that extends and strengthens in the online environment the City of Sydney pride and brand.

The .sydney gTLD will create a new generation gTLD serving the interests of residents of Sydney and the State of New South Wales (NSW) and internet users in general looking for products, services and information relating to Sydney, NSW, Australia. The .sydney gTLD will be a domain space specifically dedicated to information with a direct relevance and connection to the city of Sydney. It will provide a unique internet space that supports businesses, residents, community groups, local and state government bodies and the visitor economy in NSW. The .sydney gTLD will offer these potential registrants innovative marketing opportunities and a new channel of communication focused on their local area. Internet users will also benefit from the .sydney gTLD through increased quantity of reliable and customer-focused, locality-specific content.

As the applicant for the .sydney gTLD, the State Government of NSW, through its Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC), aims to invest in the future of Sydney by promoting Sydney as a great place to live, work, invest, visit and learn, leveraging pride of place and the strength of the Sydney brand. This application for the .sydney gTLD by the DPC has the full support of the Government of NSW and City of Sydney government.

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the capital of Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales. The greater metropolitan area of Sydney’s 38 Local Government Areas (LGAs), including the City of Sydney, has over 4.5 million inhabitants. In 2010, Sydney was ranked 7th in Asia and 28th globally for economic innovation in the ‘Innovation Cities Top 100 Index’ by Innovation Agency 2thinknow (www.innovation-cities.com⁄innovation-cities-top-100-index-top-cities⁄). Sydney was also ranked 11th in Mercer Human Resource Consulting’s 2011 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey (www.mercer.com⁄press-releases⁄quality-of-living-report-2011#Asia-Pac).

The registration of second level domain names within the .sydney domain space will only be available to businesses registered in NSW, visitor economy service providers registered with the NSW Government, local government, community groups and residents with a NSW, Australia address. These criteria for registration are imposed to ensure that the .sydney gTLD presents reliable and trustworthy information relevant to activities, businesses, community groups, organisations and government bodies with a connection to Sydney. The .sydney gTLD will be an online space where eligible registrants are required to use domain names in a manner that is not illegitimate or inconsistent with the mission and purpose of the .sydney gTLD. The .sydney gTLD is intended to encourage business viability and growth by providing a dedicated and targeted online geo-distinctive presence and innovative marketing opportunities. This will benefit internet users and promote competition in the marketplace.

The internet has created a means for global communication and interaction, allowing for greater levels of information exchange, as well as facilitating efficient business transactions. Information about Sydney is widely available on the internet, allowing internet users worldwide to easily access online information regarding work, life, entertainment or tourism in Sydney. A dedicated .sydney gTLD will, however, provide a clearly labelled and relevant resource for internet users, including visitors to Sydney and NSW, bringing together and giving easier access to information about events, businesses, communities, government bodies, landmarks, and organisations in or related to Sydney. The .sydney gTLD will meet the need for a specific online space to target NSW residents and businesses and will enhance the strength, pride and value of the Sydney brand. The number of registrations in the .sydney TLD by the end of year three is projected to be 36,122 domain names.

The mission and purpose of the proposed new gTLD share ICANN’s initiatives to promote public interest. DPC is committed to contribute towards achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments, which includes:
– consumer trust: the .sydney gTLD registry will operate as a registry where only visitor economy service providers registered with the State Government of NSW, local government bodies and NSW resident individuals, businesses and community groups will be able to register domain names, as set out in the .sydney registration policy. All domain names will be registered at the second level. Consumers will be able to have greater confidence in the information provided under the .sydney gTLD knowing that the information is provided by businesses, government bodies or NSW residents or groups that meet the eligibility criteria. As domain names within .sydney will be subject to registration standards, policies and procedures, the incidence of abuse and cybersquatting (through adequate protection of trademark holders) will be significantly lower than in open TLD spaces;
– competition: the .sydney gTLD will contribute to the initiatives of competition and consumer choice through its operation focused on promoting consumer trust and convenience as well as providing an alternative domain name space to registrations in other TLDs. The .sydney gTLD will provide more choice for registrants to clearly distinguish themselves in the online environment by demonstrating their direct connection to Sydney, the capital of NSW, Australia. Increased trust in the .sydney gTLD will drive existing and new top level domain (TLD) registry operators to make improvements in mechanisms to improve consumer trust of their TLDs; and
– consumer choice: the proposed new gTLD will enable user-driven improvements promoting the Sydney brand, with second level domains to be registered only by eligible registrants. This will allow consumers more choice and options to register domain names. It will also enable more and easier interaction with local government bodies, community groups, businesses and organisations, as well as encourage competition between these potential registrant groups to best interact with such consumers. The .sydney gTLD will operate a registration policy to have effective and well-balanced oversight over registration and use of the domain names, which will also contribute towards general service innovations on the internet.

In its endeavour to promote and expand the .sydney gTLD, as well as maintain consumer trust and the stability of the internet, DPC will comply with all operational, technical and policy requirements. DPC will keep ICANN reasonably informed of any material developments relating to .sydney gTLD including compliance with the continued operations instrument obligations as set out in Specification 8 of the Registry Agreement.

DPC does not initially intend to utilise Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). However, as the use of the .sydney gTLD evolves, it is anticipated that DPC may decide to utilise IDNs within the .sydney domain space to allow internet users to engage with .sydney in their native language and via their local website, creating a more positive user experience and encouraging diversity. In accordance with Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement, and as specified in the response to Question 22, geographic names will not be available for registration without prior agreement from the relevant government or review and approval by the GAC.