5 AFILIAS TOP LEVEL DOMAINS NOW LICENSED FOR SALE IN CHINA

.INFO, .MOBI, .PRO, .RED, and .KIM are powered by Afilias, the first western registry operator to be licensed for in-country operations by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)

Afilias, a leading domain registry operator, is pleased toannounce that the China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has issued a formal statement that awards the .INFO, .MOBI, .RED, .PRO and .KIM Top Level Domains (TLDs) a license for sale in China as required by the latest MIIT guidelines. Today’s announcement clears the way for millions of Chinese businesses and other registrants to operate sites in 5 of the world’s most popular TLDs. Only 15 ASCII TLDs (out of over 1000 worldwide) have been licensed so far, and Afilias operates one third of these privileged TLDs.

A “top level domain” or TLD is the last name to the right of the dot in an internet address (e.g. the “info” in www.afilias.info). A “registry operator” maintains the master list of all the names in a TLD like .INFO, as well as the internet (IP) address for each name. Afilias provides this service for over 200 TLDs such as .INFO, .MOBI, and .PRO. Each TLD must be licensed by MIIT to be eligible for sale in China.

“Afilias is proud that the Afilias China Registry Service, which supports these 5 TLDs, has proven to be among the few that are safe enough to meet MIIT’s high technical standards for licensing,” said Kun Qian, Afilias’ China Country Head. “Afilias now looks forward to working closely with our Chinese registrar partners to expand the market with our broad portfolio of globally recognized TLDs.”

“China’s domain name market is already the world’s second biggest, with over 40M registrations,” said Roland LaPlante, Senior Vice President of Afilias, “and more consumer choice will help it grow faster. As the first western registry operator to have licensed, in-country operations, Afilias provides more choices and an extra measure of confidence for Chinese registrars and registrants alike. Companies and others looking to tap new markets and reach broader audiences should add (or switch to) globally appealing addresses such as .INFO and .PRO, which are intuitively meaningful and have more names available than legacy TLDs like .COM.”

These 5 TLDs will serve the needs of both start-ups and established organizations that need a globally appealing internet presence to compete in today’s marketplace. Chinese firms typically have names in localized addresses, but many of them have aspirations beyond the Chinese market—these firms need a global address that sets them apart as a bigger player. For example,

• .INFO means “information,” and is especially good for tourism (www.spain.info and www.frommers.info), transportation (www.mta.info), causes (www.ChildrenOfSyria.info), and financial (www.cloud-tax.info). Every business needs to get its information to the market!
• .PRO says “professional,” and embraces technologies (www.rackspace.pro), staffing and human resources (www.brightowl.pro), design (www.imagedesign.pro) and even creating your own internet radio station (www.airtime.pro).
• .MOBI means you are mobile-enabled, and helps you reach mobile consumers such as baseball fans (www.mlb.mobi), news junkies (www.your4state.mobi), job seekers (www.careerjunction.mobi), and college applicants (www.bucknell.mobi).
• .RED associates you with good fortune, as illustrated by podcast advice on successful selling (www.salesman.red), investment advice (www.trp.red), and free images (www.Freeimages.red).
• .KIM appeals to the Korean market, as shown at www.johnny.kim, and the Agario game www.agario.kim.

Some of these names go to a long and difficult to remember name in another TLD, reinforcing the value of shorter, intuitive names that help customers remember and find you!

Registrants (website owners) in China can now register INFO, MOBI, PRO, RED and KIM names with confidence, as the formal license has now been authorized. This will reassure the millions of Chinese businesses, organizations and individuals who need reliable, globally recognizable internet addresses that they can depend upon (note that non-licensed TLDs may be subject to suspension at any time).

Registrars (who sell websites/domain names at retail) may have similar confidence as they offer these TLDs for sale to their customers. By securely accessing the Afilias China Registry Service, registrars will enable all new registrations to be compliant upon registration, and will be able to complete the compliance process quickly and easily for the hundreds of thousands of names already registered in these TLDs in China. Afilias has provided detailed technical instructions to all interested registrars, and will provide 24x7 service as usual to assist in the upgrade.

The licensing of these five (5) TLDs clears the way for Afilias to submit another 14 TLDs for approval. These include other colors such as .blue and .green, niche TLDs such as .pet, .ski and .organic, and special purpose TLDs like .promo. Afilias is preparing the required documentation and expects it to be ready for MIIT inspection in the coming weeks.

Importantly, Afilias also provides registry services in support of clients who operate over 200 TLDs, including country codes, “dotBrands” and other generic terms. Many of these are also planning to pursue licensing in China, and the Afilias China Registry Service is now proven able to support their applications. We look forward to working with our clients and MIIT to expand domain choice even further for Chinese registrants and registrars.

For More Information on these new Afilias Brands:

About Afilias

Afilias is the world’s second largest domain registry, with millions of domain names under management. Afilias powers a wide variety of top-level domains, including TLDs for countries, cities, brands, communities and generic terms. Afilias’ specialized technology makes Internet addresses more accessible and useful through a broad range of applications, including Internet domain registry services, managed DNS, and mobile Web services. For more information on Afilias services, visit www.afilias.info.

Contacts

For More Information:
Afilias
Alan Wallace, +1 215-706-5716
press@afilias.info