Latest news of the domain name industry

Recent Posts

MMX: three gTLDs approved for sale in Beijing

Kevin Murphy, August 31, 2017, 12:17:05 (UTC), Domain Registries

Three foreign new gTLDs have been approved for sale and resolution in Chinese capital Beijing, according to MMX.
The portfolio registry said today that its .vip is among the first to receive approval from the Beijing Communications Administration, one of China’s many regional authorities.
According to MMX, while many gTLDs have managed to pass through the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s stringent vetting process, the Beijing local authority has so far been slow to follow the national regulator’s lead.
But BCA approved .vip, along with GMO’s .shop and Donuts’ .ltd on August 16, the registry said in a market update.
This gives .vip national coverage in China, adding Beijing’s 22 million inhabitants.
MMX added that 188,764 different .vip sites, of the over 600,000 in its zone file, are currently indexed by Chinese search engine Baidu.
It also said that it plans to start selling Chinese-script internationalized domain names in .vip (in IDN.ascii format) in November.

Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Comments (2)

  1. gene says:

    thank you for publishing this piece, Kevin.

  2. Pinky Brand says:

    Kevin I think your headline is a bit off.
    You may want to check with your source as I believe this is more about a new gTLD becoming “Bein-able” as they say in Chinese.
    In other words, this is more about local registrants being able to obtain an “ICP” license that is a number that must appear on the footer of their website hosted within China that is associated with the new gTLD name.
    Even if MIIT accredits a new gTLD, it usually takes awhile for each of the 30+ provincial telecommunication bureaus to accept the ICP Beian application for new TLDs.
    Major cities/provinces like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong are typically the most difficult places to get new gTLD ICP in China.
    This is not about the ability to sell a domain name vs. enablement—being able to actually use it with a website that is hosted within China that resolves to the domain name.
    Arguably it makes sense that a new gTLD has more “sales potential” in China if registrants located in China have actual plans to use the name in commerce; however I’m not yet convinced that a majority of the new gTLD names registered from within China are for actual use in China vs. mass speculation and resale purposes. (i.e. “Make a quick buck”)

Add Your Comment