UPDATA
Last summer Tuvalu prime minister Bikenibeu Paeniu was on a quest to convert his country's top-level domain name into big-time cash. It paid off. On August 6, in exchange for US$50 million up-front and an undisclosed share of future revenue, the nation granted Information.CA of Toronto exclusive rights to .tv domain names until 2048. "This is the best deal Tuvalu, in our short history, has ever reached," says Paeniu.
Information.CA president Jason Chapnik is confident the deal will prove to be a bargain if the company can establish .tv as the international mark of "television companies of the future" - i.e., Net sites with streaming video. While he would not disclose how much .tv names will cost when the registry opens in January 1999, Chapnik did say that the price will be "much, much higher" than the $35 annual fee for a .com address.
As part of the deal, Information.CA will help Tuvalu build its first local ISP. But Paeniu says the biggest benefit is purely financial: "We've been dependent on aid for so long - sometimes our sovereignty has been compromised."
Tuvalu hopes to see an additional $200 to $300 million over the next decade. The cash advance - five times the nation's 1997 gross domestic product - will be used to improve public housing, set up an educational scholarship fund, and nurture local corporations. Adds Paeniu, "It's a blessing from heaven that takes us out of a lifestyle of begging."
Original story: "Buy This Domain," Wired 6.09, page 106.
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