Issue 162 - 19th August 2004

Singapore to offer second-level .sg domains

The Singapore Network Information Center (SGNIC) recently announced the forthcoming release of second-level .sg domains. Applications will be allowed from outside the island, as long as there is evidence of a Singapore local contact. Foreign-based registrants will have to appoint a local administrative contact or register a local office. This is in contrast to the existing third-level registrations, which are only available to Singapore-based businesses.

Trademark holders will be invited to apply for registration during a sunrise phase commencing September 15th 2004. A bid system will be used to resolve competing applications. Otherwise public applications will commence from January 2nd 2005, on a first-come, first-served basis. The .sg registry has published a full set of answers to common questions and these are available on-line as follows:

http://www.nic.net.sg/sub_domain_registrations/2ndlvl_faq.html#7

NetNames believes that is it essential for customers to make well-informed decisions to secure relevant key company, brand and product names well in advance of any changes to registration requirements. Ideally, these decisions should be in accordance with an agreed and documented policy. Our account managers are well versed in the subtleties of the registration requirements as well as having wide experience of the commercial approach to pro-active and effective domain name management strategies across a range of industry sectors.

It is already possible to place orders for domains that qualify for registration in the second-level under .sg. Prospective customers can place sunrise orders now at http://www.netnames.com/. Alternatively NetNames Platinum Service customers can contact their NetNames account manager directly for assistance in this regard.

Changes to administration of .ph top level domain

It is anticipated that the National Telecommunications Commission of the Philippines will be releasing new regulations relating to the administration of the .ph country-code Top Level Domain (ccTLD). DotPH inc. is currently the sole registrar and has until now operated with very limited regulation.

The expected change is a separation of the role of Registry (the body that manages and administers the register of domain names) from that of the Registrar (the body that markets and sells new domains). DotPH is likely to be made to choose which role they wish to perform, whilst ICANN will determine who fulfils the remaining role.

Similarly to the changes that are taking place in Singapore, the prospective changes in the Philippines highlight the need for customers to keep abreast of the continually evolving landscape of international domain name issues through publications such as N3 Lite from NetNames.

Arab.com sells for $225,000

The Domain Name Journal has reported that Bashar Al-Abdulhadi, President and CEO of KuwaitNET Internet Services, has paid US$225,000 for Arab.com. For the first week since Domain Name Journal began compiling data (October 2003), every domain in their current top ten chart has sold for at least a five figure sum.

Words are more valuable than characters in domain names

Independent research by Zetetic (http://www.zetetic.com) indicates that domain names with fewer words are more desirable than those with fewer characters.

"While most people know that shorter domain names are more valuable, most assume this means fewer characters," Zetetic Founder Keith Pieper said. "We've found that while fewer characters are somewhat important, a domain name with fewer words is significantly more valuable."

The company also found that the average domain sale increased by four percent to US$2,690, a slight rebound from June 2004.

Domain names remain the key links between the on-line and off-line worlds. As manifestations of key brands and intellectual property, their value is indisputable and the protection of key brands under the various suffixes remains essential. The attractiveness of generic terms has also always been high and the apparent increasing price of generic terms only serves to highlight this. Even the owners of famous brands and trademarked names have made good use of generic terms as web site addresses.