The Department of Commerce on Monday said it was delaying by a year a plan to release control of the Internet. In a blog post, an executive with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration says the Internet “community” needs time “to complete” plans for the transition.

The NTIA contracts with the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, which oversees the domain naming system that governs the Internet.

Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling noted that the current contract expires Sept. 30. The plan has been since March of 2014 to “internationalize” Internet control. The NTIA has the option of extending the contract “up to three additional years,” he added.

The transition plan has not been universally acclaimed.

“The Internet’s global multistakeholder community has made tremendous progress in its work to develop a proposal to transition the historic stewardship role NTIA has played related to Internet’s domain name system (DNS),” Strickling wrote.

“When we announced our intent in March 2014 to complete the privatization of the DNS, we noted that the base period of our contract with ICANN to perform technical functions related to the DNS, known as the IANA functions, expired on September 30, 2015. However, it has become increasingly apparent over the last few months that the community needs time to complete its work, have the plan reviewed by the U.S. Government and then implement it if it is approved.

“Accordingly, in May we asked the groups developing the transition documents how long it would take to finish and implement their proposals. After factoring in time for public comment, U.S. Government evaluation and implementation of the proposals, the community estimated it could take until at least September 2016 to complete this process. In response to their feedback, we informed Congress on Friday that we plan to extend our IANA contract with ICANN for one year to September 30, 2016. Beyond 2016, we have options to extend the contract for up to three additional years if needed.

“This one-year extension will provide the community with the time it needs to finish its work.”

The full blog can be read at:

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/blogs