Australian domains (.au) grow by 3% in two weeks following deregulation

At the end of June 2002, around 220,000 .au names were registered. Since the broadening of the eligibility criteria and increase in completion since the start of July, more than 6,200 new names have been registered in just two weeks.

More than 5,000 of the new names are in the commercial space, com.au where businesses, companies and holders of an ABN can now apply for multiple domain names, as well as names that are related to their activity (such as the name of their profession, or products or services they provide).

Also growing strongly is the restructured id.au name space for individuals. More than 600 registrations have already been made in id.au, even though the registry is yet to embark on its planned marketing campaign for this new ending.

id.au allows Australian residents and citizens to secure a memorable personal domain name with a .au ending for the first time. Applicants can request a name based on their real name; for example John Smith could have "johnsmith.id.au", "jsmith.id.au", "smithy.id.au", "johnthelegend.id.au" and so on.

The new growth is even better than expected and points to a more active use of .au in future as Australian businesses and individuals recognise the flexibility and greater scope of the new domain name allocation rules.