Congratulations Australia - 2 million .au domains!!

Posted by Paul Szyndler on 8 March 2011

We’re very excited to announce that .au has reached a significant milestone - two million domain names!

All Australians should be proud of the strong online community we have created.

When the current competition model was launched, there were approximately 275 000 names registered. In the nine years since, we have experienced quite a few memorable moments:

December 2001 – Release of previously unavailable generic domain names in com.au

1 July 2002 – the introduction of the new .au regime. Uniform policy framework across 2LDs, market competition, industry self-regulation and a world-class registry system.

May 2005 - the release of previously unavailable geographic domain names in com.au and net.au

November 2007 - 1 million .au domain names

July 2008 – Facilitation of an open secondary market in .au domain names

As evidenced by the range of milestones above, the success of .au is not measured by growth and expansion alone (20-25% year-on-year growth, by the way!). It is about striking the balance between open competition and appropriate policy controls. It is about developing, consulting upon, and reviewing rules that ensure .au is a trusted, well-recognised space, which evolves to meet the changing needs of the Australian Internet community.

So, have we been successful? Well, there are over 30 accredited registrars, we sit towards the top end of the list of ccTLDs worldwide (by total registrations), we have persistently low rates of demand for .au’s dispute resolution mechanisms, and we rate right up the “safe” end of independent “riskiest domains” lists.

In short, we believe .au “does what it says on the tin”. When you go to a .au website, you can expect that the domain name relates to the product, service, or information on offer. If it doesn’t, you have reliable, responsive complaints mechanisms available to you and rules by which they can be enforced. .au is Australia’s home on the Internet and is widely recognised as such. As an Australian business, community, organisation or individual, you can rest assured that there is a place at .au for you.

So, do YOU .au???

For more information, see the news item on the auDA website