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FWIW a glance at that wikipedia page does not show any references to the .IO TLD.

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.io .IO TLD is run by Internet Computer Bureau - are they the same/related companies?

I wonder if that's in effect yet ?

They aren't running it yet. It is not being offered to registrars yet.

Should it be expected that things will improve once the transition happens, then?

nic.io contact page links to https://www.icb.co.uk/ which is not reachable