News

The latest edition of the CENTR Monthly Roundup is available and covers the following

• Overview of ccTLD news from CENTR Members 
• Selected findings from a recent CENTR survey entitled "Registrar Web Tools"
• Statistics on ccTLD Growth
• Q&A with .SE 

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For all previous editions, go to the CENTR Document Library
 

Source article: Eesti Internet 

Minister of Economy and Communications Juhan Parts appointed Jaanus Tehver, who had previously served the board, as a Member of the Supervisory Board of the Estonian Internet Foundation.

The minister simultaneously recalled Vaho Klaamann, a Member of the Board of Santa Monica Networks AS, from the Supervisory Board.

Jaanus Tehver was a member of the Supervisory Board from July 2009 to May 2012, when he became a member of the Foundation's Management Board. Tehver was recalled from the Management Board at the end of 2012.

Jaanus Tehver is a barrister and partner of the law firm Tehver & Partnerid. He became a lawyer in 1998 and obtained a degree in European Law from London's King College. Tehver is a member of the Estonian Bar Association and Chairman of the Board of Transparency International Estonia.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy and Communication Marika Priske will continue as Chairman of the Foundation's Supervisory Board. Other members include the Deputy Secretary-General for Internal Security of the Ministry of Interior Erkki Koort, IT-councillor of the Reform Party Mati Leet, Chairman of the Board of Reaals

On April 25, 2013, the Fourth Russian Internet Governance Forum has opened in Moscow, Russia. The forum was hosted by the Coordination Center for TLD RU/РФ, with the Technical Center of Internet as a general sponsor.

At the opening, the Minister of Mass Media and Communications of the Russian Federation has noted that Russia is currently number one in Europe by the number of the Internet users and is among the larger Internet commonwealths. Russia should take the worldwide experience into account and contribute to global Internet development, and Russian IGF plays a very significant part in this.

With a total of 1,346,722 domain names as of 31st December, the .be extension was ranked 10th on the list of extensions for the various countries in Europe. Which is a great result for a country such as Belgium. The .be extension may have great powers of attraction in other countries, yet 65% of .be domain names are still owned by Belgian individuals or organisations. 

Each year, DNS Belgium also takes a random sample of the websites behind the .be domain names. The most recent survey shows that webshops are clearly on the rise. The increase in personal sites and blogs is another good sign in an Internet landscape where social media profiles continue to grow in importance.

The .be domain name market is a competitive one, which can be seen from the breakdown in domain name numbers for each registrar. In Belgium, the top 3 registrars together have 20.7% of .be domain names in their joint portfolios. If we compare that figure with .nl (22.6%), .lu (37%), .uk (41%), .de (53%) and .fr (59%), it’s clear that .be market is a very healthy one. 

Click on this link to view the infographic of these figures, plus a link to the full report on .be domain names and registrars.

As in the preceding year, Anne-Marie Eklund-Löwinder ranked a respectable 15th in the magazine Computer Sweden’s list of Sweden’s 100 most powerful IT women.

“Safety issues are being assigned ever-higher priority on the agenda as we spend an increasing amount of time in the cloud. She is one of the truly knowledgeable figures in Internet security. She is also on the board of ISOC-SE and SNUS, Swedish Network Users’ Society.”

 Read Interview with Anne-Marie

The below, charts the evolution of total domains under management aggregated over the CENTR Full Membership (representing roughly 95% of all European ccTLDs) since June 2009.
The median monthly growth rate of these ccTLDs is 0.82% while the equivalent in global gTLDs is 0.63%
Once new gTLDs are added to the gTLD statistics we expect to see fluctuations and instability in its figures at least in the early stages however we will continue to monitor the numbers and market shares of European ccTLD against gTLDs.  Please see the CENTR Domainwire stat Reports as well as monthly Roundup newsletters for more details on European ccTLD statistics - the next edition of Domainwire stat report is expected in June 2013.  


CENTR 1 year net growth: 6.9% 
CENTR total domains (full members): 66,017,556

Global gTLDs 1 year net growth: 3.4%
Global gTLD total domains: 14,2545,003

Note: Spikes in the CENTR line are caused by additions such as when a new member has joined or an IDN ccTLD was added to the data. 

Source: CENTR domain database, Hosterstats (gTLDs).  Figures based at end of March 2013
 

New reporting capabilities at Russian Domains Russian Domains, a statistics portal for Russian TLDs, presents new reporting capabilities. Users are now able to see how domain age affects renewals with Renewal rates per age report.

The data presented in the report provides an insight into how Russia's domain zones are used, and how stable Russian TLDs are. In .RU, about half of the domain names are renewed after an year of use, which means that every year, some 50% domains in .RU are registered for short-time usage, like new projects, SEO, advertising etc.

The older the domain is, the higher the chance of its renewal. The renewal rates in .РФ pretty much resemble those in .RU.

New data insights are also available for registrar dynamics report: here, the information on percentage of expiring domain name registrations for every registrar has been added to the report. New capabilities of the Russian Domains are provided regularly, which enables domain name experts and the Internet community to gain more and more useful and relevant insights into Russia's national top-level domains.

Nominet has been selected by ICANN as one of three Emergency Back-End Registry Operators (EBERO) for new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) set to launch over the next 12 months.

As an EBERO, Nominet will provide emergency support for any newly launched gTLD registry which encounters technical difficulties. This would involve transferring and maintaining the core operations of the gTLD whilst a longer term resolution is established.

Nominet was chosen as an EBERO for its service excellence, transition team expertise, strong customer support and financial stability. It will now work closely with ICANN to shape and define the service offering to ensure a successful, seamless outcome for all organisations involved.

“The impending new gTLDs represent a new phase in the history of the internet, and we’re delighted to play a key role supporting them as an EBERO, sitting at the heart of the expanding global domain name space,” said Lesley Cowley, CEO, Nominet.

The .ME Registry, operator of the .ME domain name extension, has been spreading Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) awareness, advocating for increased online safety, since it became DNSSEC enabled in late 2010.

The .ME Registry has long been a proponent of DNSSEC, a set of Internet standards that essentially add authentication to DNS to make a system more secure. As most .ME users utilize the domain name extension as a personal identifier and don’t have access to an IT team in the event of a malicious attack, implementation of DNSSEC assures .ME registrants a much safer online experience.