ICANN's Internet governance contract has been extended until September 30.

The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has renewed its agreement with ICANN to govern the Internet. However, the new contract will expire on September 30, 2012.

The Internet is managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), whose primary responsibility is the IP address space, top-level domains, and the protocols used.

The IANA organization is currently managed by ICANN, but IANA is managed through a competitive process.

At the end of 2011, a new tender for the IANA management was announced. However, this tender was declared invalid. For this reason, the Internet governance agreement with ICANN was extended for six months on an exceptional basis. Furthermore, a new tender for the IANA management will be held soon.

ICANN has managed IANA since 1999; in fact, IANA is part of ICANN. However, it's possible that another organization will manage the Internet in six months. This is also due to ICANN's failure to meet the tender requirements.