Mongolia has moved a step closer to the launch of its own internationalized domain name (IDN) by passing the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ string evaluation test.
The Asian county is seeking its own IDN country code top level domain string, allowing internet users to write and register web addresses in Mongolian.
In order to do so, applicants to the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process must pass the preparation, string evaluation and string delegation stages.
As such, under the process – approved by the ICANN board in Seoul in October 2009 – Mongolia now simply needs to complete the string delegation stage.
ICANN introduced IDNs three years ago in a bid to increase access to the internet in countries where the native language is not based on Latin script.
In many parts of the world, the need to register domain names using Latin characters had been seen as a roadblock to progression.
But soon after the launch of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process, applications for strings in Arabic, Cyrillic and other languages were received by ICANN.
A total of 30 countries/territories’ requests have now successfully passed through ICANN string evaluation.
Of these, 21 are delegated in the DNS root zone, with the remainder either readying to apply or actively applying for delegation of the string.
“ICANN looks forward to enabling the availability of non-Latin country-code domains for countries that meet the Fast Track Process requirements,” the corporation stated.
“[We] will continue to accept new string evaluation requests in the fast track process. Staff support is available to help all countries and territories interested in participating.”