Colombian domain (dot co) reaching for the stratosphere

The Colombian domain extension .co is becoming one of the most popular domain names with people buying new domain name extension. .co domain extension is even set to challenge .co.uk and .com domain name, the two most popular domain extension in the world.

Dot co (.co) domain name extension was awarded to Colombian government but ICANN, the Colombian government gave it to a private firm to run the domain extension. Though it was launched in July 2010, it was awarded to the Colombian government about 10 year ago. Dot co extension has seen registration that well in excess of half a million.

The commercial arrangement between Colombian government and the private firm ensures a quarter of the revenue from .co domain extension goes to the Colombian government. A spokes person for the private firm running the domain extension was quoted as saying

“We are going for a global audience and in three to five years we hope to have three to five million registrations.

“The average person can try up to 20 times to register a domain and companies are starting to come up with long and silly urls,” he said.

So far, 38% of firms registering for a .co domain are in the US, with 20% in Europe, the majority of these from the UK.

For countries lucky enough to have a domain name with a meaning beyond their own borders – such as the tiny South Pacific island of Tuvalu (.tv), domain names can be a rich income source.

The .tv web address has proved a hit with the broadcast industry, while Montenegro’s me has appeal to the social networking generation.

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