On 5/29/2012 7:52 PM, Simon Green wrote:
The only country I'm aware of that dropped 2LD was Canada (where the second level was a providence, not a type). Canada finally stopped accepting them in 2010. No other 'big' countries have done it to my knowledge.
Singapore did in 2004-2005. Maybe they don't fit your criteria of "big" though - at least in landmass... http://www.sgnic.sg/news/second-level-sg-domain-names-ready-launch-today from the article...
There were 71 contested domain names which were put through the closed bidding process in which the affected registrants placed their bids. The registrant with the highest bid won the rights to the domain name.
I have not reviewed the consultation document, but I am broadly supportive of opening the .nz namespace up - although I accept there are challenges in doing so. These challenges need to be at least investigated.