A BUSINESS PLAN FOR.asean TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN NAME REGISTRY

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1 ARTICLE INFO A BUSINESS PLAN FOR.asean TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN NAME REGISTRY Master of Business Administration in Management, School of Management, Shinawatra University, Bangkok, Thailand Corresponding Author: Parkpoom Tripatana Master of Business Administration in Management, School of Management, Shinawatra University, Bangkok, Thailand [email protected] Business name:.aseanregistry Business structure: Company Limited registered under Thai law. Business location: KhlongLuang, Pathum Thani, Thailand Business owner(s): Thai Network Information Center Foundation Thai Name Server Co., Ltd. T.H.NIC Co., Ltd. DotArai Co., Ltd. Other External Investors Products/services:.asean TLD registration service. The Market Target market: External trade or cross border enterprises in ASEAN Organizations in ASEAN Individuals in ASEAN Domain Name auction companies The Future Vision statement: Be the ASEAN's electronic commerce IDENTITY Objectives: To provide residents, organizations, and undertakings in the ASEAN Community with a specific pan-asean identity on the Internet The Finances Investment $700,000 Seed Funding EXECUTIVE SUMARY The Business Break-even Point at.aseanregistry 4 years and 6 months at the.aseanregistry 4 years and 7 months at Investor(s) INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background ASEAN is one of the fastest growing economic regions in the world (Wood, 2013) and has a fast rising Internet usage, driven by economic and demographic growth. ASEAN has made a sharp rebound from the global crisis. In 2011 the region s real GDP growth was above the world average, with some countries even showing two-digit economic growth. Total GDP of the region was US$1,850, and the population of ASEAN reached million in 2011 (ASEAN Sec., 2012). ASEAN countries aim to achieve full economic integration in 2015 by creating a single market and production base that will allow a free flow of goods, services, investment, capital and labor throughout the region ( 2012). The projected integration has encouraged many companies throughout the ASEAN region to develop their business through electronic commerce. Electronic commerce holds the prospect of becoming an economic and competitive way of doing business, not only within the ASEAN Internal market, but also worldwide, embracing suppliers, contractors, customers and the final consumer. The region s economic and population growth, as well as it s integration, have resulted in a consequential increase in Internet usage and electronic commercial business. Internet users and companies developing electronic commerce seek their own identities on the Internet. The limited alternatives available in the ASEAN region force individuals, companies, and organizations to register themselves on the Internet using US-based existing gtlds (e.g.,.com). In such a case, it is difficult to ensure appropriate degrees of adherence to ASEAN policies such as competition, data and consumer protection. Moreover, the national cctld Registries in ASEAN generally restrict acceptance of registrations only from within their own national jurisdiction and, with some exceptions, under relatively restrictive registration policies. While this approach reduces the risk of conflict of laws, it does not correspond to the aim of an ASEAN integration in which businesses will operate throughout the Internal Market and globally. 1.2 Purpose To answer to Internet identity needs and to respond to the economic growth and integration of ASEAN, this study discusses the creation of a generic Top Level Domain (gtld) for the ASEAN Community, i.e.,.asean. The objective of introducing the.asean TLD is to provide residents, organizations, and undertakings in the ASEAN Community with a specific pan-asean identity on the Internet. It is desirable to facilitate the development of an Internet identity (a brand) for the products and services of ASEAN based companies. Moreover, the.asean TLD would represent unity among ASEAN countries. 1.3 Project Description Early in 2012, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) allowed new gtld applications. More than 1,900 applications are pending validation. The large number of applications, even with a high application fee of US$185,000, shows the tremendous demand of Internet users for generic TLDs (ICANN, 2013). ICANN could, therefore, open for a second round of gtld applications in the near future. In respect to the size and economic importance of the ASEAN countries and the extensive use that would be made of.asean TLD, both for electronic commerce and ASEAN institutions, ASEAN should take this opportunity to apply for.asean TLD. 1.4 Delegation of the.asean TLD by ICANN The Internet Domain Name System (DNS) is an important component for the identification and location of Internet users. In ASEAN countries, Internet users have opportunities to own a set of country-code Top Level Domains (cctlds) such as.th,.sg,.ph,.my, etc. Most cctld Internet Registries limit possible registrations to entities and individuals having a clear affiliation with the corresponding territory. This conforms to the underlying idea that the corresponding code (e.g.,.th,.sg, etc.) is a form of unambiguous identification and location of the activity. However, as ASEAN countries are heading toward ASEAN connectivity by 2015, the entities eligible to register in a.asean TLD should respond to

2 such connectivity. In particular, undertakings, organizations and residents in the ASEAN countries would all be eligible to register under.asean TLD. Consequently, a very large number of entities would be eligible. Some Internet users in ASEAN countries may have registered in the few generic Top Level Domains (gtlds) such as.com, which is currently managed by the VeriSign Inc. Company under contract from the United States Government. However, it is already congested, at least in the English language (Verisgin Inc., 2012). The growth of commercial registrations in.com TLD is evidence of the need and opportunity for an alternative to gtld domains. The European Union realized such a need of alternative gtld domain names and created.eu to support the EU market. The.EU TLD was opened for public registrations in The growth of.eu TLD has exceeded all expectations and reached almost 2.5 million names in its first year (EURid, 2006). The use of.eu also continues to increase and reached 3.5 million in 2011 (EURid, 2011). It has now become Europe s fourth most popular country code TLD, and the ninth most popular TLD worldwide. These figures highlight the success of.eu in gaining public favour and responding to the need of alternative gtld for the EU market. 1.5 The.asean domain name and the ASEAN Economic Community Companies in ASEAN are developing electronic commerce to enhance their business market. In fact, several countries have initiated a process of popularizing this modern business channel in small and medium sized enterprises. The ASEAN Economic Community is also addressing several legal and regulatory aspects of electronic commerce in order to facilitate this kind of business, particularly to create, as uniformly as possible, legal and regulatory procedures throughout the Internal Market. Electronic commerce will become an important element of the export and import trade, especially in services that can be delivered online. Many companies have shown interest in the.com TLD Internet Domain. However, while this domain is, in principle, global in scope, it is in practice predominantly North American. It is difficult to ensure a coherence of its usage in ASEAN competition, data protection, and consumer protection policies. The.asean TLD domain would provide the following benefits to all ASEAN countries: (1).asean TLD will allow ASEAN countries to have a common Internet Domain Name System (DNS) technology, which is an important Internet infrastructure and an important component for the identification and location of Internet users. It would thus become a significant platform when the ASEAN market becomes an active area of electronic commerce. (2).asean TLD will provide bodies, institutions and agencies, programmes and projects within the ASEAN region with a specific ASEAN Internet identity. This would not only represent unity among ASEAN countries, but it would also promote the reputation of businesses located in ASEAN. (3).asean TLD would offer a very wide variety of useful names, whereas.com domain is already congested. It could also support a wide range of alternative languages for the purpose of cross-border and international trade..asean BUSINESS 2.1 Business details Products/services:.asean - a domain name for ASEAN community used to represent their strong coherence and to support the blooming of the electronic commerce in ASEAN countries. 2.2 Registration details Business name:.aseanregistry Location registered: Pathum Thani, Thailand Business structure: a Company Limited registered under Thai Law Domain names: registry.asean Business Headquarter: which all the operations will be handled here together with a data center room to place a primary domain name server and registry service servers. The total space is 100 square metre leasing from Thailand Science Park, National Science and Technology Development Agency. Its address is located at Thailand Science Park, Khlong Luang, Pathum Thani, Thailand 2.3.asean Management Structure Figure 2.1:.asean Management Structure.asean Management Structure Description Registry : ASEAN Secretariat The organization which.asean will be officially delegated to. This organization will take the role of managing the.asean policies. As well, they will designate the registry operator to work for.asean services..asean Co-Ordinator : Ministry of Information and Communication Technology This organization has a seat in Telecommunication and IT Ministers (TELMIN) under the ASEAN Secretariat which could deliver a voice from Thai registry to be able to manage.asean. Front-end Registry Operator :.aseanregistry The organization which running the services. They will be in charge of all technical and marketing aspects. Backend Registry Operator : Thai Name Server Co., Ltd. [TNS] This organization is an existing.th registry operator. They has fully developed the registry system which could be further developed to support other TLDs including.asean. Registrars : They are companies who got the accreditation from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to be the registration point for domain names under various Top-level domain names delegated by ICANN. There are about 1,000 ICANN Accredited Registrar worldwide. 2.4.aseanRegistry Organization Figure 2.2:.aseanRegistry Organization Chart 2.5 Management & Ownership Details of ownership: The owners of the.aseanregistry are from various organizations who currently manage.th cctlds. This will be beneficial for.aseanregistry in terms of experiences, knowledges, existing alliances and systems. Those organizations are: Thai Network Information Center Foundation (THNICF /.th supporting organization) Thai Name Server Co., Ltd. (TNS /.th Registry Operator) T.H.NIC Co., Ltd. (THNIC /.th Registar) DotArai Co., Ltd. (DotArai / an only ICANN Accredited Registrar in Thailand) External Investors, which could be : ASEAN Secretariat Thai Government (Ministry of Finance under MICT's project) ASEAN countries' cctlds. Thai ICT corporates in ICT industry Foreign corporates in domain name industry Table 2.1: Shares Distribution Shareholder External Investors 49.00% THNICF 21.00% TNS 10.00% THNIC 10.00% DotArai 10.00% Investment Ratio

3 2.6 Key personnel 10 positions with 16 staff will be acquired: Job Title Quantity Expected staff turnover Managing Director Marketing & Sales Manager Technical Manager Internal Affair Manager Engineer 2 International Sale Executive Registrar Relation & Support Table 2. 2:.aseanRegistry Services Skills necessary 1 10 years Well experienced in the Domain Name industry and skills in management years 1 10 years 1 10 years 5 10 years 3 5 years Marketing 2 5 years ASEAN Sec., Government Relation & Policy Well experienced in coordinating with overseas businesses. He/she must also have background and experiences in marketing and event management. Well experienced in the domain name registry-registrar model and development. Well experienced in coordinating with the Thai Government and international organizations. He/she must also have background or experiences in human resources management and/or general management. Computer engineer or computer science background with fluent in coding concepts and/or computer system administration. Fluent in English. Be able to understand technical terms and concepts. Fluent in convincing. 3 5 years Good command in English. Good communication skill years Creative. Able to understand technology concepts. Able to organize overseas marketing events. Well experienced in coordinating with the Thai Government and international organizations. Good command in English. Accounting 1 5 years Have background in accounting. Recruitment options In those manager level positions, direct approach will be performed to the person who already be known in the domain name industry. For the rest, online job recruitment or universities job fair will be preferred. 2.7 Products/services Product/Service Description Price.asean TLD. A top-level domain name for ASEAN community 10 USD Market position: since ASEAN is a unique word that belongs to ASEAN community,.asean will be automatically premium. However, there will be a lot of new TLDs emerging. As well, the number of potential.asean registration will be high because of almost 600 million populations. Hence,.asean will be set to semi-mass position, sell at the average market price which will be shown in the financial section. Anticipated demand: To make sure that the project can be survived and successful in a high competitive environment,.asean TLD needs to understand core aspects of the domain name registration business. During and beyond the opening of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, it would encourage the emerging of new multi-national firms trading among ASEAN countries as well as trading with the rest of the world using the image of ASEAN. Those need domain names to represent that they do not belong to any specific country but ASEAN. It will be the start and major demand of.asean..asean domain name registration will be provided to individuals, organizations and business entities under the ASEAN TLD policy. The statistic of other TLDs registration may give some ideas of the domain name registration size. We therefore provide the statistics of TLDs registrations as referenced from in Table 4: Numbers of Domain Name Registration in October 2012 referenced from the hosterstats.com website. Table 2.3: Numbers of Domain Name Registration in October 2012 referenced from the hosterstats.com website TLD Domain Volume (in millions).com org eu 3.60.mobi 2.40.tel 0.30.asia 0.24.asean > 0.17 in 5 years 1 To roughly estimate major consumer size, the number of SMEs in ASEAN is used to project the number of all enterprises. The ratio of.th registration compare to Thai enterprises is also used as a pessimistic ratio for.asean's size of market projection as the following table. Table 2. 4: Pessimistic Estimation of 2014.asean Market Size Country Brunei Darussalam Number of SMEs (nonagricultura l) in Estimated number of SMEs (nonagricultural) in Estimated number of all enterprises Minimum. asean market size in 2012 Minimum. asean market size in ('000) ('000) ('000) ('000) ('000) Cambodia Indonesia 21,896 24,187 25,195 Lao PDR Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand 1,640 1,812 1, Viet Nam 2,700 2,982 3,107 ASEAN 26,693 29, , ,065 From the Table 2.5: Pessimistic Estimation of 2014.asean Market Size, the ratio of number of.th compare to Thai enterprises is used because.th has very low number of registration. The reason of the low registration of.th is.th has very strict policies such as one domain name per a company limitation and name restriction. In addition from the Table 5: Pessimistic Estimation of 2014.asean Market Size, it is shows that the roughly estimated market size of.asean is around 1 millions. However, we expect minimum of.asean TLD registration by pessimistic estimation as follows. In the second year of operation, the number of domain name registration will be expected at 49,110 domains in total, which includes 5,000 domains in the sunrise and Landrush period and 44,110 domains in the Go-live period. We expect 1 The expected number of.asean registration in 5 years of operation. 2 Source: (Tumbunan, 2008) 3 Assumption: 1% growth rate of number of SME per annum. 4 SMEs are 96% of all enterprise (ASEAN Sec., 2012) 5 Assumption: 1% growth rate of number of.asean market per annum. 6 Assumption: number of.th in 2012 is 64,158 (all.in.th, 2012) compare to all Thai enterprises is 3.4% 7 Assumption: minimum.asean market size is in the same ratio of.th

4 the number of domains to be increased about 5% each month after the start of the Go-live period in the 2 nd year and 3% monthly from the 3 rd year on. This will result in the total numbers of domains of 86,391 in the 3 rd year, 123,173 in the 4 th year and wil reach 175,615 in the 5 th year. According to the statistics from the hosterstats.com website, as shown in the Table 4: Numbers of Domain Name Registration in October 2012 referenced from the hosterstats.com website and the Table 5: Pessimistic Estimation of 2014.asean Market Size, the expected registration numbers of 175,615 domains within five years would be considerably possible. By the assumption above, the Table 6: Pessimistic Estimation of.asean Registration Volume was constructed as follows. Table 2.5: Pessimistic Estimation of.asean Registration Volume Year 1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5 th Domain Volume 0 49,110 86, , ,615 Pricing strategy: for domain name registration,.asean TLD will open for registration in three phases: (i) the Sunrise period which is the period to offer registrants with prior rights to register domain names related to trademarks or culture concerned and company or trade names for each country, (ii) the Landrush period which will open the opportunity to nontrademark holders to get the domain names at the premium price, and (iii) the Go-live period which is the open period for general registrations. In the Sunrise and Landrush periods,.asean domain name registration will be set at the premium price, i.e., at $100 per year. On the other hand, when Go-live, the domain registration fee will be offered at $10 per year. This $10 registration fee during the go live period is estimated based on the market price of gtld and cctld registration fees which are shown in Table 7: The 1-year domain name registration fee in market compare to.asean. Table 2.6: The 1-year domain name registration fee in market compare to.asean TLDs. Price at the registry.eu 5.org 7.7.com 7.85.tel 8.asean 10.asia 10.mobi 12.th 15.la 21.cc 20.tv 25.asean TLD expects 5,000 domains during the sunrise and land-rush periods which the registration fee is proposed to be $100 for the 2 nd year. After the sunrise period,.asean TLD expects 45,000 domains to be registered in the 2 nd year at the price of $10..asean MARKET 3.1 Vision Be the ASEAN's electronic commerce IDENTITY. 3.2 Mission 1. Convince Thai Government to realize the significance of having.asean for ASEAN community and accept to be a host in coordinating with ASEAN Secretariat. 2. Convince ASEAN Secretariat to see the benefit of having management control of.asean. 3. Expand the use of.asean among ASEAN countries by various public relations techniques once it has been delegated from ICANN. 4. Allocate some portion of profit to the ASEAN ICT Fund in order to be the major fund to help develop ASEAN ICT infrastructures. 5. Deliver image of Hub of ASEAN ICT to Thailand. 3.3 Market Market targets External trade enterprises in ASEAN which may trade among ASEAN countries or trade outside ASEAN. Organizations in ASEAN, especially multi-national organizations such as ASEAN Secretariat itself. Individuals in ASEAN who need domain names which.com been taken. Domain Name auction companies such as pool.com and sedo.com which add value to domain names. Market Size As described in the Table 5: Pessimistic Estimation of 2014.asean Market Size,.asean could have 1.06 million domains while we expected to have only 175 thousands registered within 5 years. Environmental analysis Political In the part 10 years, Thailand politic is uncertain which lead to the tremendously trust decreasing in investment or co-ordinating business, although, it seem to be recovered in some degree during this 2 years. However, in terms of electronic commerce, physical location has no matter. Multi-countries based of physical service site in one international business should be a good famous solution. Economic In 2015, ASEAN economy will be more united. All the trade barriers among ASEAN countries will be decreased. For Thailand in the perspective of being.aseanregistry, it will be more profitable after the import and export TAX has been reduced. As well, in ASEAN perspective, after the economy united, higher bargaining power of ASEAN among the globe will be seen significantly. ASEAN identity will also be intensely needed. The.asean will be one of that identity. Social Nowadays, the Internet is one of major facility of living for most of the people in town society. The communication in both voice and data are extremely fast and cheap. No matter in Thailand or among ASEAN countries, they could communicate easily. All information could be transferred and forwarded along the time. As well, trading could be delivered their message real quick through those online communication channels and the sell could be completed as fast as the internet speed. Those imply to the emerging of ASEAN identity, which will be needed by those tradings in ASEAN countries. Technology In 2013, Thailand 3G regulations and delegations have been completed. That imply to the moving forward from computer desktop or laptop based to mobile based. People will easily access to online information. All the public relation will be more effective in online media, which could cluster the target group to the right target easier than mainstream mass media. Although, Thailand mobile infrastructure development, hence from 2G to 3G, is quite slow. While many countries in ASEAN are moving to 4G LTE. But for the perspective of being the.aseanregistry, speed of mobile is not related. It also consumes less bandwidth for landline. But the reliability and availability are the main factors which Thailand current land line infrastructures could provide that. In another factor, Thailand electronic commerce was rapidly grow from 47.8% in 2010 to 57.2% in 2011 (ASEAN Economist, 2013) which show the capability of Thailand to be a hub for ASEAN electronic commerce. Environment Thailand, by the location and shape of the country, could easily be pushed to be a center of many activities of ASEAN. The country is big enough and higher population to gain higher volume productivities. We can just compare to Singapore, which is too small and low population. So, Singapore is appropriate for trading, but not producing. Thailand is also a center for traveling because of her location which is in the middle of other ASEAN countries and not being multicontinents. Legal Current Computer Crime Act. in Thailand seem to be a barrier for online businesses. Many foreign online businesses refused to set up a physical service center in Thailand. However, as said earlier, online business is not sticking to location. The domain registry servers could be distributed to other countries.

5 The public relation office and financial office could be set-up in each ASEAN countries separately, therefore, those could comply with each country's law and culture. 3.4 Customers Key customers ICANN Accredited Registrars. Mainly to be the registrars in ASEAN countries. But all the rest will be communicated and engaged too. 3.5 Five Forces Analysis Rivalry: Apart from 21 existing gtlds (eg..com,.net,.org,.info, etc.) and 280 existing cctlds (eg..th,.my,.kr,.uk, etc.), more than 1,000 gtlds in New gtld program will be coming into business within 2013 including.google,.app,.web,.music, etc. So, being stuck to ASEAN brands with are supported by ASEAN Secretariat would be the highest opportunity to being unique. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: in this case, ASEAN Secretariat will be the supplier for.aseanregistry in term of providing the authority to run the registry. To secure the business, contract of running.asean must well be prepared. Other services in line such as hosting services, name secure services, registrar services and other registry services must be considered to be our partners to build a strong community and strong engagement to.asean. Bargaining Power of Customers: in this case, ICANN Accredited Registrars will be.aseanregistry customers who will distribut the sell. More than 1,000 ICANN Accredited Registrars are exist and growing up continuously. However, being stuck with ASEAN brand is unique. Identify multiple partner registrars would be the choice to reduce the bargaining power from only one partner or registrar community. Threats of Substitute: It is possible that in the future, second level domain names won't be any interesting because the top level domain names can be registered directly, e.g. register.google instead of google.com. However, in doing that, the cost of the delegation is still extremely high, 185,000USD, compare to about 10USD registering a second level domain with a lot lower level of procedures. Another threat to replace domain name would be search engines. Internet users nowadays happy to go to a search engine website to find desired items instead of typing a domain name directly. However, domain name is still a brand of products, services and organizations. It is the reputation of the product, services and organizations rather than being website access point like it use to be. Threats of New Entrance: Many more TLDs from New gtlds program of ICANN will be getting into business because there is very high potential for ICANN to accept the New gtld application annually. Like described, the.asean has its own cluster in ASEAN community. However, good technique in engagement to the member of ASEAN must be performed, as well as, put awareness.asean continuously. 3.6 S.W.O.T. Analysis Table 3.1: The S.W.O.T. Analysis Strengths 1 ASEAN has a strong identity with supported by almost 600 million people behind. 2 Strong team with expertise in the.th cctld registry and registrar. 3 The management team is wellknown and has a good reputation in global and local Internet communities. 4 The infrastructure development is lower cost compared to others. 5 A lot of good names to be registered under.asean are available, but congested in other existing TLDs. 6 Demonstrate of the coherence among ASEAN community. 7 Existing registry system of the.th registry could be developed to use for.asean with low cost. Opportunities 1 Only one.asean can be introduced. 2.COM is congested. 3 Other cctlds have some degree of restrictions. 4 ASEAN cctlds cannot show of being ASEAN businesses / organizations. 5 Service in almost same working time with other ASEAN countries. Weaknesses 1 The.asean is not yet wellknown, compare the famous.com. 2 Cannot approach to the globe, only in ASEAN. 3 The sound conflict between ASEAN and Asian. Threats 1 TAX barriers of in-shore and out-shore transactions of Thailand. 2 Foreign Exchange Rate. 3 7% Value Added TAX. 4 Policies of.asean management should be under ASEAN Secretariat and out of.aseanregistry controls. 3.7 Key Success Factors 1. Secure, robust and easy to use registration system. 2. Strong technical team with technical competency in domain name registration system to ensure uninterrupted services to customers. 3. Interactive customer support. 4. Continued activities to educate customers on how to secure their registered domains. 5. Distributed offices for financial and customer services. 3.8 Channels Effective channels will distribute the value proposition in ways that are fast, efficient and cost effective..asean TLD will be able to reach its clients either through its own channels, partner channels, or a combination of both. In particular,.asean TLD can reach its client through direct communication and promotion via its own website, and ICANN Accredited Registrars and their authorized resellers and affiliates. At the global level, there are 1,025 registrars which are listed at While in ASEAN region, there are 11 ICANN accredited registrars. 3.9 Key Partners In order to optimize operations and reduce risks of a business model, organization usually cultivate buyer-supplier relationships so they can focus on their core activity. Complementary business alliances also can be considered through joint ventures, strategic alliances between competitors or non-competitors. For.asean TLD, key partners could be 10 cctlds registries within the ASEAN community, which are.th,.ph,.sg,.bn,.kh,.id,.la,.mm,.my,.vn. Beside the key partners that have been mentioned in the Figure 1:.asean Management Structure. OPERATION PLAN FOR.asean BUSINESS Thai Name Server as the Backend Registry Operator for.asean TLD As a not-for-profit organization, THNIC Foundation has a high degree of autonomy that would enable consensus on wide range Internet interests within the ASEAN Community. THNIC Foundation has accredited Thai Name Server as the Registry for administration and management of country code TLDs for Thailand (i.e.,.th and.ไทย). Thai Name Server has experiences in Registry operation for more than ten years. Coordinated with THNIC Foundation, the manager of the.th domain

6 name, and using Thai Name Server as the backend registry operator.asean TLD will be fulfilled with registry operation requirement according to the new gtld application guide book. For the operation of.asean TLD, the following Registry functional components should be considered: 4.1 Registry Operations Operation of TLDs needs to follow the registry-registrar model. In this model, the Registry is charged with the administration and management of domains, including maintenance of the relevant databases, while accredited registrars act as agents offering registration services to registrants. The Registry is typically not allowed to act itself as a registrar. This approach fosters competitiveness in the domain name market where registrars tend to diversify their offers to cover the different needs of registrants while ensuring competitive prices. Over the past years, Thai Name Server has been upgrading its technical backend Registry systems. One of the key challenges has been to improve resilience by ensuring redundancy of all key operations. In this aspect, Thai Name Server has a mirror site allowing full replication of the functions of the main site. This also enables avoiding single point failure in the Registry s infrastructure, and thus increases stability in the event that one of the relevant servers goes down or becomes unreachable. Thai Name Server has a Business Continuity Plan, including an analysis of the Registry core functions as well as of related risks and countermeasures. It also includes a crisis management plan, as well as business continuity scenarios and procedures concerning particular types of threat. To support.asean TLD, Thai Name Server plans to promote the use of all the official languages of the ASEAN countries, particularly when providing services to future registrars. 4.2 Registrars For registrars, the.aseanregistry will be able to call on the interest of ICANN accredited registrars from ASEAN countries. This will allow the public and commercial community in any ASEAN country to have access to.asean TLD through a large number of competing registrars operating in their country. This approach corresponds to the general principle of ICANN that registrations are held in trust in the interests of the Internet users within the territory concerned. Eligible registrars should be able to offer enterprises and individuals particularly small and medium sized enterprises quick, inexpensive and simple Internet registration services (one-stop-shop) on a competitive, market-oriented basis. Registration, however, would need to follow a general registration policy of the Registry which would be published and updated from time to time. 4.3 Registration Policy It is anticipated that registration in.asean TLD should be commercially attractive from the point of view of cross-border electronic commerce. Therefore, registration policy should accommodate a large number of unique new registrations over a period of time. For.asean TLD, the Registry should allow registration to be requested by any of the following parties: an undertaking having its registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the ASEAN Community, or an organization established within the ASEAN Community, or a natural person resident within the ASEAN Community. Registries are typically experienced in resolving disputes in the Domain Name Server (DNS). Most such disputes are, in practice, related to Trademarks. In order to safeguard prior rights recognized by the ASEAN Community or national law, a procedure for phased registration shall be put in place. Phased registration will proceed in two phases, with the aim of ensuring that holders of prior rights have appropriate opportunity to register names to which they hold prior rights. The.aseanRegistry should ensure validation of the rights by appointed validation agents. On the basis of evidence provided by applicants, validation agents would assess the right which is claimed for a particular name. If there are two or more applications for a domain name, each claiming prior right, allocation of that name will take place on a first-come-first-served basis. After the phased registration, the principle of first-come-first-served shall be adopted for all domain name registrations. 4.4 Dispute Resolution and Trademark Policy To ensure better protection of domain disputes, the.aseanregistry shall define, in agreement with the Internet user community and the relevant public authorities, a limited list of broadly-recognized names with regard to geographical and/or geopolitical concepts which affect their political or territorial organization. Such lists would include names that could either not be registered or which could be registered only under the second level domain in accordance with public policy rules. The.aseanRegistry shall also provide an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) procedure which takes into account international best practices in the Internet Domain Name area to ensure that speculative and abusive registrations are avoided as far as possible. The ADR shall respect the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy adopted by ICANN. This ADR shall define a code of conduct for domain name revocations; giving domain name holders concerned the opportunity to take appropriate measures. 4.5 International Domain Names Initially, the Registry shall support domain name registration under.asean TLD using standard Latin characters, i.e., a to z, digits 0 to 9, and -. However, as soon as technically possible, the Registry shall introduce the Internationalized Domain Names (IDN), i.e., names containing language-specific scripts such as in Chinese. In fact, Thai Name Server has already experienced International Domain Names when enabling registration under.ไทย, thus the realization of IDNs to support the whole ASEAN Community will be possible. 4.6 Key Activities and Resources Resources that are necessary in the domain name registration business consist of the domain registration system and staff. They are necessary assets for operating the main activities of the domain name registration business, which are as follows. i. Technical activities: In the domain name registration business, the technical activities involves research and development (R&D) as well as the maintenance of the domain registration system. ii. Management and Marketing activities: In the domain name registration business, the management and marketing activities refer to the creation of customer relationships. In particular, staff in the domain name registration business respond to customer requests and complaints with two methods, which are (a) sending s to domain registrants, and (b) personal contact to the ICANN Accredited Registrar, i.e., the partner who can provide domain registration service. 4.7 Operation Phase There will be 5 phases to start operate.aseanregistry: 1. Application Phase It will be the first 9 months of the operation. In this state, only limit numbers of key staff will be hired. They will focus on composing the New gtlds application and drive it until.asean will be delegated. In the same time, they will need to have strong coordination with ASEAN Sec. organization and Ministry of Information Technology of Thailand to get the endorsement of running.asean. The 5 staff that involved in this state are: - a Managing Director - a Marketing & Sales Manager - a Technical Manager - a Accounting - a ASEAN Sec., Government Relation & Policy 2. Initial Phase It will be the last 3 months of the first year of the operation..aseanregistry will get into this state when there are no objection on the application and the application has been considered to be passed before the official announcement in the initial evaluation process from ICANN. This state will also be the start of the Registry-backend contract and implementation, marketing activities, official office establishment. More staff related to those initial activities will be hired. Another 8 staff that have been hired in this state are: - an Internal Affaire Manager - 3 International Sales Executives - 2 Engineers - 2 Marketing 3. Sunrise Period It will be the first 3 months of the 2 nd year. First 5,000 selected.asean domain will be posted to sell with the premium price ($100 per domain). The rest of staff will be included to be the full team and all activities will be performed. The last 3 staff are which will be hired are the Registrar Relation & Support. 4. Go-live Start of normal operation. The price of.asean will be $10 per domain. Expected increase of number of registration will be 5% per month until the end of the 2 nd year. 5. Normal Operation From the 3 rd year on, the growth of the registration is expected to be 3% per month. 4.8 Maintenance For all equipment involved in the.aseanregistry operation, they will set to be obsoleted every 4 years except the servers and their peripherals will be 3 years replacement. Those servers are: 1. Secondary DNS This will be one of many Secondary DNS servers of.asean. The primary DNS server and the rest of the Secondary DNS servers will be taking care by the Registry Backend and their partners. 2. Registry Mirror Server

7 For contingency plan when the Registry Backend could not perform the normal operation. 3. Mail Server 4. Web Server FINANCIAL 5.1 Costs To operate the.aseanregistry, moderately $700,000 must be injected into the company to keep company running smoothly and cover all possible expenses and security. The details of consumption of $700,000 will be described later in this section. For the cost details, there are numbers of costs that needed to be considered. They should be grouped into 2 types, variable costs and fixed costs, as following descriptions. Variable costs Those costs will vary by the change of volume of domain name registration. All the variable costs will start occurred in the 2 nd year of the operation because there will be no sale in the first year since it is the application and preparation period. The variable costs consist of: 1. ASEAN ICT Fund revenue sharing Since.aseanRegistry will encourage ASEAN Secretariat to be the official registry of.asean. The New gtlds application of.asean will be submitted on behalf of.asean in the section of community. ASEAN community then should get the profit from this activity. The benefit will come through the fund called ASEAN ICT Fund which will be used for develop ICT infrastructure and accessible in ASEAN countries. The amount of the sharing will be $2 per domain apart from the $10 per domain whole revenue. 2. Investors revenue sharing The investor(s) are varied by the model which has been chose. 3 models will be proposed in Chapter 6. In the first model, the investors will be all the ASEAN countries' cctlds. The second model will gather seed funding from any external investors. And the last model will be ASEAN Sec. themselves with the seed funding from ASEAN ICT Fund. No matter which model will be chose, same amount of $700,000 will be injected into.aseanregistry and $2 per domain will be the revenue sharing return to the investor(s). If there are more than 1 investor, the $2 per domain must be distributed in the same ratio of their investment. 3. Registry Backend service fee That will compensate all the costs which the registry backend, TNS in the proposed models, have to carry. The amount of the fee offered to registry backend will be $1. 4. Extra marketing expenses $1 will be proposed to be the marketing fund kept inside.aseanregistry. Since ASEAN consist of 10 countries, to communicate.asean to consumer in each country must be considered separately. Those will need higher fund to do so. Increasing the fund by the volume of registration, must be the choice which help the exponential growth of customers. s There are numbers of cost items that.aseanregistry needs to 2. ICANN Application Fee One time cost of $185,000 payout to ICANN. 3. Registry Backend Initial Contract The technical fee payout to the registry backend for their system development and all related equipment for the first time. The amount is $135, Marketing (base cost) $3,000 will be spent for marketing activities started from the Initial Phase on. 5. Office & Data Center Space Rental It will be 100 sq.m. At $10 per 1 sq.m. per month. The rental will be performed at the Initial Phase. 6. Office & Data Center Furnishing One time expenses at the start of Initial Phase which is $20, Internet & Infrastructures Monthly basis expenses started from the Initial Phase at the total of $2,000. In this amount, it will includes electricity, water, telephone and other office infrastructure services. 8. Other equipment Personal computers, fax machine, printers and other equipment relate and vary to staff. It will be one time expenses with a replace policy for every 4 years. 9. Servers & Peripherals One time expense with the replace policy for every 3 years. Start at the initial phase. 10. Miscellaneous 10% of all fixed expenses. 11. Corporate TAX Expected to be 25% of annual profit and it will be debited out from the account by the month of January subsequence year. 5.2 Revenue Only the source of revenue of.aseanregistry is domain name registration. The first 5,000 domains will be put to sell in Sunrise period with $100 premium price per domain. The subsequence registrations growth rate has been described in section Break-even Point From the financial model described in earlier sections, the break-even point of.aseanregistry will be marked when there is cash equal to $700,000 which is the amount of seed funding injection in the very first phase..asean Registry Break-even = 4 years and 6 months. Another break-even point that must be considered is the break-even point of the investor(s) who invested in.aseanregistry. The point is at the time they get full investment of $700,000 back to their entities..asean Investors Break-even = 4 years and 7 months. considered. Those consist of: 1. Personnel cost Which is separated into 3 phases of acquiring stated in section 4.7. Monthly expenses in salary is shown in the following table. Table 5.1: Personnel Cost Job Title Quantity Salary per head Total (in USD) Managing Director 1 2,000 2,000 Marketing & Sales Manager 1 1,600 1,600 Technical Manager 1 1,600 1,600 Internal Affair Manager 1 1,300 1,300 Engineer ,000 International Sale Executive 3 1,000 3,000 Registrar Relation & Support ,950 Marketing ,300 ASEAN Sec., Government Relation 1 1,000 1,000 & Policy Accounting Total 16 16,400

8 5.4.aseanRegistry Projected Cash Flow Table 5.2:.aseanRegistry Annually Cash Flow.asean Registry Annual Cash Flow (in USD) Year Forecasted Registration Volume 0 49,110 86, , ,615 Cash Carry-in - 152, , , ,268 Equity Acquisition 700, Sunrise Domain Registration ($100) - 500, Domain Registration ($10) - 441, ,911 1,231,731 1,756,154 TOTAL 700, , ,911 1,231,731 1,756,154 Labour cost 105, , , , ,941 ICANN Application Fee 185, Registry Backend Initial Contract 135, Marketing (Base cost) 9,000 36,000 36,000 36,000 36,000 Office & Data Center Space Rental $10) 3,000 12,000 12,000 12,000 12,000 Office & Data Center Furnishing 20, Internet & Infrastructure 6,000 24,000 24,000 24,000 24,000 Other Equipment 21,666 5, ,666 Servers & Peripheral 13, ,333 - Miscellaneous (10%) 49,800 27,380 28,356 32,346 35,561 Total 547, , , , ,167 ASEAN ICT Fund ($2) - 98, , , ,231 Investors ($2) - 98, , , ,231 Registry Backend ($1) - 49,110 86, , ,615 Marketing ($1) - 49,110 86, , ,615 Total - 294, , ,039 1,053,692 Table 5.4:.aseanRegistry 2 nd Year Monthly Cash Flow.asean Registry Cash Flow for the 2 nd Year (in USD) Phase Sunrise Period Go-Live Phase Month Forecasted Registration Volume 1,000 1,000 3,000 4,000 4,200 4,410 4,631 4,863 5,106 5,361 5,629 5,910 Cash Carry-in 152, , , , , , , , , , , ,461 Equity Acquisition Sunrise Domain Registration ($100) 100, , , Domain Registration ($10) ,000 42,000 44,100 46,310 48,630 51,060 53,610 56,290 59,100 TOTAL 100, , ,000 40,000 42,000 44,100 46,310 48,630 51,060 53,610 56,290 59,100 Labour cost 16,400 16,400 16,400 16,400 16,400 16,400 16,400 16,400 16,400 16,400 16,400 16,400 ICANN Application Fee Registry Backend Initial Contract Marketing (Base cost) 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 Office & Data Center Space Rental $10) 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 Office & Data Center Furnishing Internet & Infrastructure 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 Other Equipment 5, Servers & Peripheral Miscellaneous (10%) 2,740 2,240 2,240 2,240 2,240 2,240 2,240 2,240 2,240 2,240 2,240 2,240 Total 30,140 24,640 24,640 24,640 24,640 24,640 24,640 24,640 24,640 24,640 24,640 24,640 ASEAN ICT Fund ($2) 2,000 2,000 6,000 8,000 8,400 8,820 9,262 9,726 10,212 10,722 11,258 11,820 Investors ($2) 2,000 2,000 6,000 8,000 8,400 8,820 9,262 9,726 10,212 10,722 11,258 11,820 Registry Backend ($1) 1,000 1,000 3,000 4,000 4,200 4,410 4,631 4,863 5,106 5,361 5,629 5,910 Marketing ($1) 1,000 1,000 3,000 4,000 4,200 4,410 4,631 4,863 5,106 5,361 5,629 5,910 Total 6,000 6,000 18,000 24,000 25,200 26,460 27,786 29,178 30,636 32,166 33,774 35,460 Income TAX (25% of Annual Profit) TOTAL Cash Out-flow 36,140 30,640 42,640 48,640 49,840 51,100 52,426 53,818 55,276 56,806 58,414 60,100 Monthly Profit (Lost) 63,860 69, ,360 (8,640) (7,840) (7,000) (6,116) (5,188) (4,216) (3,196) (2,124) (1,000) Cash Carry-out 216, , , , , , , , , , , ,461 Accumulated Investors Return 2,000 4,000 10,000 18,000 26,400 35,220 44,482 54,208 64,420 75,142 86,400 98,220 Income TAX (25% of Annual Profit) ,315 8,412 34,221 TOTAL Cash Out-flow 547, , ,578 1,103,258 1,479,081 Monthly Profit (Lost) 152, ,260 (52,666) 128, ,073 Cash Carry-out 152, , , , ,341 Accumulated Investors Return - 98, , , ,579 Table 5.5:.aseanRegistry 3 rd Year Monthly Cash Flow.asean Registry Cash Flow for the 3 rd Year (in USD) Phase Normal Phase Month Forecasted Registration Volume 6,087 6,270 6,458 6,652 6,851 7,057 7,269 7,487 7,711 7,943 8,181 8,426 Cash Carry-in 497, , , , , , , , , , , ,534 Table 5.3:.aseanRegistry 1 st Year Monthly Cash Flow.asean Registry Cash Flow for the 1 st Year (in USD) Phase Application Phase Initial Phase Month Forecasted Registration Volume Cash Carry-in - 683, , , , , , , , , , ,696 Equity Acquisition 700, Sunrise Domain Registration ($100) Domain Registration ($10) TOTAL 700, Labour cost 6,850 6,850 6,850 6,850 6,850 6,850 6,850 6,850 6,850 14,450 14,450 14,450 ICANN Application Fee , Registry Backend Initial Contract , Marketing (Base cost) ,000 3,000 3,000 Office & Data Center Space Rental $10) ,000 1,000 1,000 Office & Data Center Furnishing , Internet & Infrastructure ,000 2,000 2,000 Other Equipment 8, , Servers & Peripheral , Miscellaneous (10%) 1, , ,212 2,045 2,045 Total 16,701 7, ,035 7,535 7,535 7,535 7,535 7,535 7, ,328 22,495 22,495 ASEAN ICT Fund ($2) Investors ($2) Registry Backend ($1) Marketing ($1) Total Equity Acquisition Sunrise Domain Registration ($100) Domain Registration ($10) 60,873 62,699 64,580 66,518 68,513 70,568 72,686 74,866 77,112 79,425 81,808 84,262 TOTAL 60,873 62,699 64,580 66,518 68,513 70,568 72,686 74,866 77,112 79,425 81,808 84,262 Labour cost 16,400 16,400 16,400 18,040 18,040 18,040 18,040 18,040 18,040 18,040 18,040 18,040 ICANN Application Fee Registry Backend Initial Contract Marketing (Base cost) 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 Office & Data Center Space Rental $10) 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 Office & Data Center Furnishing Internet & Infrastructure 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 Other Equipment Servers & Peripheral Miscellaneous (10%) 2,240 2,240 2,240 2,404 2,404 2,404 2,404 2,404 2,404 2,404 2,404 2,404 Total 24,640 24,640 24,640 26,444 26,444 26,444 26,444 26,444 26,444 26,444 26,444 26,444 ASEAN ICT Fund ($2) 12,175 12,540 12,916 13,304 13,703 14,114 14,537 14,973 15,422 15,885 16,362 16,852 Investors ($2) 12,175 12,540 12,916 13,304 13,703 14,114 14,537 14,973 15,422 15,885 16,362 16,852 Registry Backend ($1) 6,087 6,270 6,458 6,652 6,851 7,057 7,269 7,487 7,711 7,943 8,181 8,426 Marketing ($1) 6,087 6,270 6,458 6,652 6,851 7,057 7,269 7,487 7,711 7,943 8,181 8,426 Total 36,524 37,620 38,748 39,911 41,108 42,341 43,611 44,920 46,267 47,655 49,085 50,557 Income TAX (25% of Annual Profit) 86, TOTAL Cash Out-flow 147,479 62,260 63,388 66,355 67,552 68,785 70,055 71,364 72,711 74,099 75,529 77,001 Monthly Profit (Lost) (86,606) 440 1, ,783 2,630 3,502 4,401 5,326 6,279 7,261 Cash Carry-out 410, , , , , , , , , , , ,795 Accumulated Investors Return 110, , , , , , , , , , , ,002 Income TAX (25% of Annual Profit) TOTAL Cash Out-flow 16,701 7, ,035 7,535 7,535 7,535 7,535 7,535 7, ,328 22,495 22,495 Monthly Profit (Lost) 683,299 (7,535) (211,035) (7,535) (7,535) (7,535) (7,535) (7,535) (7,535) (222,328) (22,495) (22,495) Cash Carry-out 683, , , , , , , , , , , ,201 Accumulated Investors Return

9 Table 5.6:.aseanRegistry 4 th Year Monthly Cash Flow.asean Registry Cash Flow for the 4 th Year (in USD) Phase Normal Phase Month Forecasted Registration Volume 8,679 8,939 9,208 9,484 9,768 10,061 10,363 10,674 10,994 11,324 11,664 12,014 Cash Carry-in 444, , , , , , , , , , , ,641 Equity Acquisition Sunrise Domain Registration ($100) Domain Registration ($10) 86,790 89,394 92,076 94,838 97, , , , , , , ,138.aseanREGISTRY REVENUE SHARING MODEL 6.1.asean consortium In this model,.asean TLD may set up from 10 cctld registries to corporate as.asean consortium. The seed funding $700,000 will be acquired from each cctld in voluntary proportion and be returned in the same ratio. The return will be $5 revenue sharing per domain name registration, which shall be separated into three parts: $2 to the ASEAN ICT fund and another $2 will be divided to each cctld in agreed proportion and the last $1 to the Registry Backend. TOTAL 86,790 89,394 92,076 94,838 97, , , , , , , ,138 Labour cost 19,844 19,844 19,844 19,844 19,844 19,844 19,844 19,844 19,844 19,844 19,844 19,844 ICANN Application Fee Registry Backend Initial Contract Marketing (Base cost) 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 Office & Data Center Space Rental $10) 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 Office & Data Center Furnishing Internet & Infrastructure 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 Other Equipment Servers & Peripheral , Miscellaneous (10%) 2,584 2,584 2,584 2,584 2,584 2,584 2,584 2,584 2,584 3,918 2,584 2,584 Total 28,428 28,428 28,428 28,428 28,428 28,428 28,428 28,428 28,428 43,095 28,428 28,428 ASEAN ICT Fund ($2) 17,358 17,879 18,415 18,968 19,537 20,123 20,726 21,348 21,989 22,648 23,328 24,028 Investors ($2) 17,358 17,879 18,415 18,968 19,537 20,123 20,726 21,348 21,989 22,648 23,328 24,028 Registry Backend ($1) 8,679 8,939 9,208 9,484 9,768 10,061 10,363 10,674 10,994 11,324 11,664 12,014 Marketing ($1) 8,679 8,939 9,208 9,484 9,768 10,061 10,363 10,674 10,994 11,324 11,664 12,014 Total 52,074 53,636 55,246 56,903 58,610 60,368 62,179 64,045 65,966 67,945 69,983 72,083 Income TAX (25% of Annual Profit) 8, TOTAL Cash Out-flow 88,915 82,065 83,674 85,331 87,038 88,797 90,608 92,473 94, ,040 98, ,511 Monthly Profit (Lost) (2,124) 7,329 8,402 9,507 10,645 11,817 13,024 14,268 15,549 2,202 18,227 19,627 Cash Carry-out 442, , , , , , , , , , , ,268 Accumulated Investors Return 288, , , , , , , , , , , ,349 Table 5.7:.aseanRegistry 5 th Year Monthly Cash Flow.asean Registry Cash Flow for the 5 th Year (in USD) Phase Normal Phase Month Forecasted Registration Volume 12,374 12,745 13,128 13,522 13,927 14,345 14,775 15,219 15,675 16,146 16,630 17,129 Cash Carry-in 573, , , , , , , , , , , ,658 Equity Acquisition Sunrise Domain Registration ($100) Domain Registration ($10) 123, , , , , , , , , , , ,288 TOTAL 123, , , , , , , , , , , ,288 Labour cost 21,828 21,828 21,828 21,828 21,828 21,828 21,828 21,828 21,828 21,828 21,828 21,828 ICANN Application Fee Registry Backend Initial Contract Marketing (Base cost) 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 Office & Data Center Space Rental $10) 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 Office & Data Center Furnishing Internet & Infrastructure 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 Other Equipment 8, , Servers & Peripheral Miscellaneous (10%) 3,616 2,783 2,783 2,783 2,783 2,783 2,783 2,783 2,783 4,116 2,783 2,783 Figure 6.1:.aseanRegistry Model for Option 1:.asean Consortium From the expected numbers of domain registration in Table 6: Pessimistic Estimation of.asean Registration Volume, the revenue sharing has been calculated in the Table 21: in the.asean Consortium Model below. Table 6.1: in the.asean Consortium Model Year ASEAN ICT Fund.asean Consortium (be divided) TNS ,220 98,220 49, , , , , , , , , , External Investors In this model,.aseanregistry may acquire $700,000 seed funding from external investors. The return will be $4 per domain name registration and be separated into 2 parts: 50% to ASEAN ICT fund and the rest will be back to each investor in agreed proportion. Another $1 will be returned to TNS as the service fee. Total 39,778 30,611 30,611 30,611 30,611 30,611 30,611 30,611 30,611 45,278 30,611 30,611 ASEAN ICT Fund 24,748 25,491 26,256 27,043 27,855 28,690 29,551 30,437 31,351 32,291 33,260 34,258 ($2) Investors ($2) 24,748 25,491 26,256 27,043 27,855 28,690 29,551 30,437 31,351 32,291 33,260 34,258 Registry Backend ($1) 12,374 12,745 13,128 13,522 13,927 14,345 14,775 15,219 15,675 16,146 16,630 17,129 Marketing ($1) 12,374 12,745 13,128 13,522 13,927 14,345 14,775 15,219 15,675 16,146 16,630 17,129 Total 74,245 76,473 78,767 81,130 83,564 86,071 88,653 91,312 94,052 96,873 99, ,773 Income TAX (25% of Annual 34, Profit) TOTAL Cash Out-flow 114, , , , , , , , , , , ,384 Monthly Profit (Lost) 9,719 20,371 21,900 23,475 25,098 26,769 28,491 30,264 32,090 19,305 35,908 37,904 Cash Carry-out 582, , , , , , , , , , , ,562 Accumulated Investors Return 542, , , , , , , , , , , ,579 Figure 6.2:.aseanRegistry Model for Option 3: ASEAN ICT Fund In this External Investor model, the $4 per domain revenue sharing will be distributed between the external investors and the ASEAN ICT Fund in the 50:50 ratio as shown in the Table 22: in the External Investors Model.

10 Table 6.2: in the External Investors Model Year ASEAN ICT Fund External Investors (be divided) TNS ,220 98,220 49, , , , , , , , , , ASEAN ICT Fund In this model,.aseanregistry may acquire $700,000 seed funding from ASEAN ICT fund. Hence, all the $4 per domain revenue sharing will be directly returned back to the ASEAN ICT Fund. to start the operation. Registry operator which will start the business can understand the status of the market in this industry, know their competitors, help them identify their partners and could develop the operation and financial model to suit with their business. Finally, It also can be used as a proposal for the ASEAN Secretariat to consider the investment, operation and benefit that the ASEAN community will receive in case the ASEAN Secretariat accept to be the registry or the supporting organization for.asean. REFERENCED 1. ASEAN Economist (2013). A Blog Celebrating The Potential & The Realization of ASEAN. Retrieved February 2, 2013, from 2. Asean.org (2012). ASEAN Economic Community. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from 3. Asean.org (2012). Small and Medium Enterprises. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from 4. ASEAN Secretariat. (2012). ASEAN Community in Figures 2011 (ACIF 2011). 5. Benton Foundation. (1998). Losing Ground Bit by Bit: Low-Income Communities in the Information Age. Benton Foundation and National Urban League, Washington DC. Figure 6.3:.aseanRegistry Model for Option 2: External Investors As shown in the Table 23: in the ASEAN ICT Fund Model, 100% of the $4 per domain revenue sharing will be returned to the ASEAN ICT Fund. This model will give highest benefit to ASEAN community for the long run. Table 6.3: in the ASEAN ICT Fund Model Year ASEAN ICT Fund TNS ,440 49, , , ,034, , ,737, ,290 CONCLUSION In this paper, we have discussed the problem of limited alternatives in existing gtlds which is already congested. These existing gtlds also aim to support entities and individuals in the US. They are thus difficult to ensure appropriate degrees of adherence to ASEAN policies such as competition, data and consumer protection. We therefore propose to register for.asean TLD to be able to manage the policy of this internet domain name to reflect ASEAN s economy, social and culture. The.asean TLD as an internet identity would not only represent unity among ASEAN countries, but it would also promote the reputation of businesses located in ASEAN. However,.asean TLD initially requires $700,000 seed funding to support the application fees and operations and needs to manage the revenue sharing once it starts to operate. We therefore propose three models for acquiring the seed funding and managing revenue sharing. We particularly prefer the second model in which external investors supports all $700,000 seed funding since it will be most possible and quicker to start. This business plan is also developed to help identify all the environment effecting the setting-up of a New gtlds domain name business in Thailand. Therefore, it could be used as a guideline for registry operators 6. DiMaggio, P., & Hargittai E. (2001). From the 'Digital Divide' to 'Digital Inequality': Studying Internet Use As Penetration Increases. Sociology Department, Princeton University. 7. Hoffman D. L.,, Novak T. P. (1998). Bridging the Racial Divide on the Internet. Science, April Hosterstats.com (2012). Glogal Top 50 Domain Hosters 01 October Retrieved October 28, 2012, from 9. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) (2012). ICANN-Accredited Registrars. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) (2013). New Generic Top-Level Domains. Retrieved January 5, 2013, from Internet World Stats. (2010). Top 58 Countries with the Highest Internet Penetration Rate. Retrieved October 1, 2010, from Justin Wood. (2013). Riding the ASEAN Elephant: How business is responding to an unusual animal. Economist Corporate Network Asia. 13. National Electornics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC). (2010). Internet User and Statistics in Thailand. Retrieved September

11 20, 2010, from Sec=home 14. The European Registry for Internet Domains (EURid) (2006)..EU Domain Annual Report Retrieved February 7, 2013, from The European Registry for Internet Domains (EURid) (20011)..EU Domain Annual Report Retrieved February 7, 2013, from T.H.NIC Co., Ltd. (2012)..th Domain Name Statistics. Retrieved Febuary 7, 2013, from page=domain_stat&graph=line 17. Tulus Tambunan. (2008). Development of SME in ASEAN with Reference to Indonesia and Thailand. Centre for Industry, SME & Business Competition Studies, University of Trisakti, Indonesia.