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Applicants prepare for .Asia explosion

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The Hong-Kong-based registry operator DotAsia Organisation is currently inviting applicants to submit proposals for the acquisition of websites with the ‘.asia’ suffix.

Through its Pioneer Domains Program, the first phase of applicants can send in a business proposal for the domain of their choice. The Pioneer Domains Program allows the submission of proposals for some of the most valuable names in a TLD space such as music.asia and trade.asia. Then, from October 2007 trademark holders and registered company name holders will be able to apply for domains.

In this carefully constructed set of regulations, businesses or companies with trademarks will have claim to specific names and if a particular domain name has more than one applicant, it will go to the highest bidder.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) signed off on the .Asia Registry Agreement in December 2005 and the .asia domain will be used to supplement existing country domains in the region, such as Japan’s ‘.jp’ for Japan and China’s ‘.cn’.

The DotAsia Organisation explains that the value of a .asia domain name cannot be ignored, particularly as the value of domain names is rising – poker.com was reportedly sold for over US$27 million in 2005.

ICANN and the DotAsia Organisation have spent months ironing out contract details. Edmon Chung of the DotAsia Organisation said, ‘We believe that this is a golden opportunity for entrepreneurs and businesses to acquire prime cyber real estate in Asia and for businesses to get on the fast track for attracting the world’s largest and fastest-growing market.’

For more information about DotAsia contact domains@cpaglobal.com or visit www.dot.asia.