Australia’s .au domain celebrates 3 million registrations

Posted by Michael Korjen, AusRegistry in conjunction with auDA on 24 July 2015

Australia’s Internet community today celebrates a significant milestone with the .au domain namespace surpassing 3 million domain names under management.

The milestone follows strong growth in registrations over the past 13 years and places .au in the top 10 of all countries by volume.

The .au domain namespace is an essential service asset for Australian businesses and plays a critical role in providing a platform for the nation’s digital economy.

Facts about 3 million .au domain names

  • In June 2015, AusRegistry processed 41.2 billion DNS queries for .au domain names. This averages to approximately 1.4 billion DNS queries per day in the .au zone.
  • The average length of a .au domain name is 10 to 13 characters. More than 38,000 .au domains are 28 characters or more long, with four domain names recording the maximum length allowable at 63 characters.
  • Almost 40 percent of all .au domain names have been registered for between two to six years. Seven percent have been registered for more than 10 years.
  • Approximately 86 percent of all .au domain names are registered under .com.au.
  • New South Wales accounts for the largest number of .au registrations (1 million), followed by Victoria (800,000) and Queensland (600,000).
  • .au domain name registrations grew at a rate of six percent over the past 12 months.
  • Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) is now available for .au domain names, which is a security extension that facilitates the digital signing of Internet communications, helping to ensure the integrity and authenticity of transmitted data. 

Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull commented on the milestone:

"The Internet is the most transformative infrastructure ever built by mankind. It has connected 40% of the global population and before too long it will connect almost all of us. It has supercharged every aspect of human development spreading knowledge, trade, ideas (good and bad) to every corner of the world. Australia, once remote, is one of the greatest beneficiaries of the Internet's annihilation of geography. Congratulations to auDA on this momentous milestone," Mr Turnbull said.

Chris Disspain, CEO of .au Domain Administration (auDA), said the success of .au domain names reflects the strong position of Australia’s digital economy.

“Australian businesses and consumers have confidence in .au domain names because they’re the best way to identify yourself as a trusted Australian source online,” Mr Disspain said.

“The .au domain name is Australia’s home on the Internet. It’s a safe, trusted and reputable corner of the web and Australians know it. That’s why more and more people and companies are gravitating towards .au names that allow us to shop, live, work and play online with confidence.

“The .au namespace has been ably supported by AusRegistry, the technical registry provider for the .au namespace and the official .au Registrars who provide the retail channel.”

Adrian Kinderis, CEO of AusRegistry, said the technology behind .au has helped position it as one of the most trusted locations on the web.

“The significant investment we have made in the infrastructure and stability of the .au Registry has produced a robust and secure platform that is recognised for its best-of-breed architecture. This is one of the reasons .au has achieved 100 percent uptime throughout our tenure,” Mr Kinderis said. 

“Our sole purpose is to ensure the .au Registry flawlessly performs its role as a mission-critical, essential service infrastructure asset for Australia’s digital economy.”

Surpassing 3 million .au domain names reinforces the position of importance the namespace holds in Australia’s digital economy.

Further evidence of this importance is highlighted in the quarterly Behind the Dot publications which examine the significance of the .au namespace. This is complemented by an annual survey of consumer attitudes towards the .au namespace, and a 2011 Deloitte Access Economics study into the economic contribution of the namespace to the Australian economy.

The 2015 Australian Internet Governance Forum (auIGF) will be held in Melbourne on 6th and 7th October and will provide a forum to discuss Australian Internet policy issues. auDA and AusRegistry encourage stakeholders to participate in the auIGF and contribute to the continued development of Australia’s digital landscape.


                                                                                  ##ENDS##

About auDA

.au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA) is an Australian non-profit company vested with the responsibility of operating the .au domain under an industry self-regulatory model, for the benefit of all stakeholders. In its role as manager of the .au domain, auDA develops and implements domain name policy and is responsible for consumer safeguards.   

About AusRegistry

AusRegistry is the custodian of the technology that powers Australia’s home on the Internet, the .au domain namespace. We’ve been entrusted to operate the Registry for all commercial domain names such as .com.au and .net.au, and non-commercial domain names like .gov.au and .edu.au. Our sole purpose is to ensure the .au Registry flawlessly performs its role as a mission-critical, essential service infrastructure asset for Australia’s digital economy.

Media contacts

For interviews or comment please contact:

auDA
Helen Hollins
General Manager, Communications
+ 61 3 8341 4111
helen.hollins@auda.org.au

AusRegistry
Michael Korjen
Public Relations Manager
+ 61 3 9866 3710 / 0422 666 077
michael.korjen@ausregistry.com.au