ICANN signs new contract with US government

The new contract that ICANN signed with the US government is valid until September 2015. The day before, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the US Department of Commerce granted ICANN the mandate to manage the internet address space.

Thus, ICANN's agreement with the US government is concluded for three years and can be extended twice for two years, for a total of seven years.

Furthermore, the national administration proposed retaining IANA's functions for coordinating the IP address space. ICANN will coordinate root DNS servers.

The new IANA contract takes effect on October 1, 2012, and runs until September 30, 2015. This is the longest contract ever signed.

The new contract requires a clear distinction between IANA's service development policy and IANA's functions as an IP space operator.