Chinese domain names for .sg websites soon
By ONG BOON KIAT
BUSINESSES and consumers here will soon be able to use Chinese characters as domain names for their .sg websites.
The Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC), the national registry for domain names, announced the move yesterday and said it will accept registrations for such names from Nov 23.
Registration will be carried out in several phases, stretching into next year. Government agencies will be eligible to apply first.
SGNIC will offer domain names that feature Chinese characters in front of the following Web address suffixes: .sg, .com.sg, .gov.sg, .org.sg, .edu.sg, .net.sg and .per.sg.
The use of Chinese domain names could help some businesses better reach out to Chinese markets and Chinese-speaking audiences.
‘SGNIC hopes to give users greater choices and also add to the range of domain names available here,’ said SGNIC general manager Lim Choon Sai. ‘We believe this is timely given the growing interest, especially among businesses here, to reach the Chinese markets, which may feel more comfortable using their own language.’
SGNIC, owned by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), is the central registry delegated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to administer domain name registrations under the ‘.sg’ domain name.
The launch of Chinese domain names follows other new domain name choices offered in Singapore in the past two years, including single-character and pure numeric domain names.
The use of non-Latin Web addresses has been gaining momentum, with countries like China, Japan and South Korea starting to use domain names in their primary languages.
SGNIC said that depending on market conditions, it could consider offering domain names in other languages.
Registrations can be made with any of SGNIC’s participating accredited registrars. Visit www. sgnic.sg for more details.
Source : Business Times - 04 November 2009
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