Activity report Q3 2023-24

The 2022/23 product strategy came to its conclusion at the end of the 2023 calendar year. Building on the successes of that product strategy, a new three year product strategy has been developed and was presented to Council in December. The new product strategy has been based on the extensive market research carried out across 2023, as well as qualified opportunities that have emerged from our market and international engagement. This new product strategy places a renewed focus on delivering a thriving operation that is resilient and sustainable.

*Due to maintenance window not configured accurately in monitoring system

As at the end of the reporting period: 

• There were 72 individual .nz authorised registrars as at the end of the reporting period. Two registrars were offboarded, which has reduced the number to 72 from 74. 
• There were 2 applying registrars with active applications in process to become .nz authorised. 
• There were 4 registrars undertaking the testing process that if successful, would result in them becoming fully authorised. This is an increase of one from the previous period.  It is expected that two of these registrars will go into production in the next quarter.

*Domains Under Management 

Note: Although there are additional factors in the downward trend of domains under management, it is a regular seasonal occurrence to observe a downward trend in the last quarter of the calendar year.

In November, our Tumuwhanake attended a gathering of Pacific Island ccTLDs in Hamburg at the ICANN78 meeting. The gathering was built on the momentum from similar meetings held earlier in the year, in an effort to create an ongoing forum for sharing knowledge and resources for ccTLDs across Oceania. Moving into 2024, it is expected that this group will develop a more formal structure for collaboration and support. 

As reported in the previous quarterly report, InternetNZ has ongoing engagement with two pacific island nations regarding the operation of their ccTLDs. This collaborative work continues, however in December the relationship with one of the ccTLDs deepened significantly and will become an important progress indicator for this strategic goal.

Share progress made with the Māori Internet Community, staff and stakeholders on SRR recommendations March 2024.

Q3 progress report. 

SRR Q3 2023/24 Recommendations Progress Update

Increase the percentage of funding given to partners who work within a ‘by Māori, for Māori’ approach by 10% year on year over next 3 years.

To support ‘by Māori, for Māori’ approaches, we are in discussion and co-designing with two place-based Māori organisations to discuss 2-year reciprocal partnership opportunities.  These  might include development of a community incubator model, supporting expansion of existing mahi, participatory grants within their ecosystem, and INZ utilising their hubs to support our community engagement activities.

Both phases of the one-off funding for mis/disinformation projects saw overall a high percentage of kaupapa Māori organisations funded.

Project Plan is documented and milestones reported on over the next two years.

The fundamentals of the project plan are in place, with the first report expected in February. The programme document is a living document that is able to be revised as we do more learning. As part of the project plan, there are key Design Principles which will guide the process, particularly decision making.

Members have multiple opportunities to be involved in the process and development of proposed constitutional changes. 

We are heading into an intensive engagement phase of the project, and with the Community Advisor on board planning is underway on best approaches to member engagement.

Legal requirements are met.

No specific progress on this apart from work to plan needs of this current 90-days period.

Membership demographics are unable to be collected currently, but can be implemented through the exploration of membership platform options (see Goal 6)

The project to identify an appropriate membership platform to support members has been underway. Once a selection is made adding ethnicity data to that collected by new members will help us identify and support members including Māori members.

Engagement in 2024 on NetHui and the Constitution reform provide opportunities to engage the wider internet community on the benefits of becoming members.  These will be underpinned by the Membership Engagement Plan (see Goal 6).

Engagement plans are being developed to begin engagement works based on the relationships with Iwi, Hapū, and whānau as formed in Q2. This Q3 will focus on engagement and consultation work that is required to seek input into constitutional reform, internet governance, and .nz rules.