From: Lucas Gonze (lucas@worldos.com)
Date: Sat Dec 16 2000 - 14:01:09 PST
For this reason I am starting my own country, to be called "The People's
Republic of Sexland", or "sex" for short. We expect ICANN to expedite our
application as national sovereignity demands.
- Lucas
> Subject: net *doubles* GDP for small Pacific island (fwd)
>
>
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1067000/1067065.stm :
>
> Tuesday, 12 December, 2000, 16:07 GMT
> Net gains for Tuvalu
> By BBC News Online internet reporter Mark Ward
>
> Demand for internet domain names is improving the lives of the
> inhabitants of the tiny pacific nation of Tuvalu.
>
> In 1998, the country signed over the rights for its .tv internet name
> to Canadian company Idealab. The deal has seen millions of dollars
> flow into the nine islands that make up the nation from organisations
> desperate to have the two letters round off their web address.
>
> The influx of money is paying for a new school and other
> infrastructure works.
>
> But Tuvalu is only one of several countries cashing in on the
> resemblance between their internet suffix and common words or phrases.
>
>
> Island life
>
> Many nations have been assigned a two-letter suffix used to identify
> websites run or used by companies, organisations and people from that
> country. Britain's country code suffix is .uk.
>
> Tuvalu's islands
> Nurakita
> Nukulaelae
> Funafuti
> Nukufetau
> Vaitupu
> Nui
> Niutao
> Nanumanga
> Nanumea
> By coincidence some of the country codes resemble common
> abbreviations, perhaps none more so than .tv which is owned by Pacific
> island nation of Tuvalu.
>
> After repeated enquiries from speculators and companies, the
> government of Tuvalu auctioned off the rights to the .tv domain name
> to a Canadian entrepreneur. In return for permission to use the name,
> Tuvalu was guaranteed $50m over 10 years and a 15% stake in the
> company selling rights to domain names ending .tv.
>
> Now, the $1 million per quarter being given to the Pacific nation is
> starting to change the lives of its 10,600 inhabitants. The nine
> islands making up the country cover only 24 square kilometres of land
> but are scattered throughout 1,060,000 square kilometres of the
> western Pacific.
>
> Food exports
>
> Craig Frances, chief executive of the dotTV company, said the deal had
> effectively doubled the GDP of Tuvalu. Roads are being laid, outlying
> islands are being wired up to give them electricity, and a school is
> being built on the main island.
>
> "Right now all the kids have to go to school on another island and
> they come back at the weekends," said Mr Frances.
>
> The next big change will be to make it easier to get to and from the
> main island. Mr Frances said the runway of the Tuvalu's airport was
> being extended so a 737 could land and take off. This will allow
> Tuvalu to export food for the first time.
>
> "The land is not fertile at all," he said. "The only way they can make
> money is through fishing and fishing licences."
>
> UN membership
>
> The deal with dotTV also allows Tuvalu to end links with the phone sex
> services that it previously used to make money. In return for a cut of
> profits, Tuvalu used to lease its 688 phone code to phone sex
> companies, a policy that troubled its Christian population.
>
> The money has also been used to fund Tuvalu's membership of the UN
> which demands annual fees of $20,000. Tuvalu became the 189th member
> of the UN on 5 September this year.
>
> Tuvalu is just one of many nations cashing in on the fact that its
> country code resembles a well-known phrase.
>
> Others include Moldavia (.md), Turkmenistan (.tm), Niue (.nu),
> Philippines (.ph) and Tonga (.to). So far .tv is proving the most
> popular and around 170,000 organisations have registered a domain name
> with dotTV.
>
>
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