Mr. Undersecretary,

Since 1987, the University of Chile, through its NIC Chile project, provides the national Internet community with the service of the .CL Domain Name Registry. The delegation of this function by IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) was a recognition of the pioneering role of this university, which was the first in Chile to connect to the international computer networks.

For more than ten years, NIC Chile offered this service free of charge to the community, and nowadays it has established itself as one of the best NICs in the world. Among its achievements, we can mention:

• An unblemished technical track record, without any interruptions ever in the domain name resolution service, and with a network of secondary servers throughout the world.

• A dispute resolution system for domain names, based on arbitration, which was the first in the world of its kind, similar to the one adopted later by ICANN for the UDRP.

• Active participation in the ICANN process, with various Chilean representatives in the different councils and committees of ICANN.

• More than 50 thousand registered domain names, with a high level of usage of .CL in Chile (as opposed to .COM, etc.) This is due to our policy of avoiding unnecesary regulations, and it is in sharp contrast with other countries, where an excess of regulations has generated the opposite effect.

• The lowest annual registration fee in Latin America, and one of the lowest in the world.

As part of this process of development and consolidation, we are pleased to inform you, and the Supreme Government, that ICANN and NIC Chile are beginning the process of opening negotiations, aimed at establishing a formal contractual relationship between the two entities. These negotiations could lead to Chile being one of the first countries whose domain name administrator has agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding with ICANN, a first step for a formal contract.

The establishment of this kind of contracts between ICANN and the NICs of the world will help guarantee the stability of this key component of Internet infrastructure, setting clear rules that will allow the NICs make the necessary investments for their growth. On the other hand, it will provide ICANN with a source of funding, through the contributions that the NICs will make, and it will let ICANN advance in the process of complete transfer of authority over the "root" zone of the Domain Name System.

We trust that this new step in the development of the infrastructure of the Internet will please the Government and, as always, we will be thankful for any comment or suggestion that will allow us to improve this or other aspects of our job.

Best regards,