The time for new Top-Level Domains is now! Read the open letter to the ICANN Board and sign the petition calling for the approval of the program here: http://www.petitions24.com/newtlds Show your support and say #YesToNewTLDs

There is less than one week to go until the much anticipated ICANN Singapore meeting where the global Internet community expects the ICANN Board to approve the New gTLD Program and finalise plans for launch.

The world is on the precipice of the most compelling opportunity for innovation the Internet has seen since its creation.

However, the fate of new Top-Level Domains (TLDs) now rests with the 16 voting members which make up the ICANN Board.

On Monday 20 June at 11:00am Singapore local time, the ICANN Board will hold a special session to evaluate the current status of the New gTLD Program and consider the approval of the final Applicant Guidebook, which if passed, will signal the start of the Program.

The global Internet community collectively urges the voting ICANN Board members to say ‘Yes to New Top-Level Domains’ in Singapore.

As such, an open letter to the ICANN Board has been posted along with a petition calling for the approval of the New gTLD Program.

The letter and petition can be signed here: http://www.petitions24.com/newtlds

We encourage you to read the open letter and sign the petition to show your support for new TLDs. The letter urges the ICANN Board to approve the New gTLD Program and simultaneously begin the global communications period at its 20 June 2011 meeting.

ICANN is on the cusp of an historic decision to fulfill its founding mandate to introduce choice and competition into the Internet naming system, and thereby make it truly accessible to all Internet users, and for those to come.

ICANN has no principled course of action except to vote to approve the New gTLD Program; to require the immediate start of the communications period to create greater awareness about the program; and to announce it will begin accepting applications for new TLDs later this year.

I’m confident the New gTLD Program will be approved in Singapore. As I have said before, the extraordinary level of consultation and negotiation that has gone into producing the current version of the Applicant Guidebook is evidence that the model works and that we will be kicking off the new TLD program later this year.

It’s now time for ICANN to say ‘Yes’ to new Top-Level Domains.

Please join the discussion and add your views using the following Twitter hashtag: #YesToNewTLDs