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February 1, 1998



Out-of-the-Way Nations Capitalize
On Catchy Domain Names

By JAMIE MURPHY and NICOLE SMITH

Although hard to find on a map and virtually unknown to many, the nations of Tonga, Niue and now Turkmenistan are making their mark on the World Wide Web. They are among a handful of geographic entities cashing in on their lucky draw in the domain name lottery, providing users with catchy monikers and financing their citizens' forays onto the Internet.


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While the Internet community debates the Clinton administration's proposed rules to improve the governing of the Internet address system, the pool of available names continues to evaporate. With roughly 1.5 million names registered, the ".com" domain contains iterations of most words in the dictionary, said Steve Heflin, spokesperson for Domain Bank, a company specializing in registering domain names. The domain is now so overcrowded, he said, that companies often must settle for some variation of their names. The ".com" domain is followed distantly by ".net" and ".org," with more than 100,000 names each.

But more than 200 two-letter national top-level domains exist as well. So some nimble competitors are offering catchier, less expensive and now more "official sounding" alternatives to setting up shop in the ".com" domain. And unlike most countries that restrict their domain space to locals, these enterprising countries are marketing their Web naming options to anyone, anywhere.

For businesses and individuals seeking shorter, catchier names, or 'handles,' Turkmenistan's ".tm," Niue's ".nu" and Tonga's ".to" offer new opportunities.

Beginning Sunday, companies can register in Turkmenistan, adding a ".tm" after their name. And although "www.ford.tm" does not mean that Ford has trademarked its name on the Internet, it sure looks like it.

NetNames, a British company that helped launch Turkmenistan and other countries into cyberspace, is "very careful about the distinction between domain names and trademarks," said NetNames' domain consultant, Mark Henderson-Thynne. "There is no such thing as an Internet trademark, but everyone knows that the two letters 'tm' are associated with trademarks."

Niue (pronounced new way), a small South Pacific nation of 2,000 inhabitants known for scuba diving, now welcomes virtual tourists, and registrations in ".nu" are climbing.

"We have about 5,600 names registered -- about a 600% increase since November," said Bill Semich, general manager of Niue's domain. And, the rate of new registrations continues to increase, especially with its translation into other languages. While "nu" resembles "new" to English speakers, it sounds like "now" to Scandinavians and means "naked" in French. "Roughly 20 percent of the names registered under '.nu' are people's names -- jenni.nu, dennis.nu, etc.," Semich added.


The Kingdom of Tonga, another South Pacific isle, with about 100,000 inhabitants, has an additional 4,000 virtual citizens thanks to its ".to" domain. Names already taken in the ".to" domain include "welcome.to," "tokyo.to," and "sold.to."

And thanks to their domain name popularity, Tonga's citizens are embracing the Internet. With only 600 computers in Tonga, "it's impressive that over 200 customers have signed up" with the island's only Internet service provider, said Eric Lyons, president of Tonga's domain name service, Tonic Domains. Tonga is also considering building a completely digital, wireless telephone and data infrastructure, he continued.

Turkmenistan, a former Soviet Union republic of 4 million inhabitants in central Asia, has much the same goals -- leveraging its national top-level domain to build a 21st-century infrastructure. "The establishment of the ".tm" registry is an integral part of the president's 10-year plan to modernize Turkmenistan," said Dr. Batry Karryev, administrator of the ".tm" domain.

Just how popular Turkmenistan's ".tm" domain will be remains to be seen. Mindspring, the profitable Atlanta-based Internet service provider, is considering re-selling ".tm" domains. "Offering the '.tm' domain would offer a lower-cost alternative to the current" domain pricing system, said Alan Taetle, executive vice president of marketing for Mindspring. "With the '.tm' domain, a company can pay for one year at a time," he added.

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