Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Approves 15 Additional Afilias Top Level Domains (TLDs)

Newly approved TLDs are: “.ARCHI”, “.BIO”, “.BLACK”, “.BLUE”, “.GREEN”, “.LOTTO”, “.ORGANIC”, “.PET”, “.PINK”, “.POKER”, “.PROMO”, “. SKI”, “.VOTE”, “.VOTO” and .?? (xn—6frz82g, means “mobile”)

Afilias, a leading domain registry operator, is pleased to announce the availability of 20 Afilias TLDs approved for sale in China by the China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). The announcement clears the way for millions of Chinese businesses and other registrants to operate sites using these additional 15 popular TLDs which are owned and operated by Afilias.

A “top level domain” or TLD is the last name to the right of the dot in an internet address (e.g. the “info” in www.afilias.info). A “registry operator” maintains the master list of all the names in a TLD like .INFO, as well as the internet (IP) address for each name. Afilias provides this service for over 200 TLDs around the world.

In 2017, Afilias became one of the first western registry operators to be licensed for in-country operations by China’s MIIT with the approval of .INFO, .MOBI, .PRO, .RED, and .KIM. By 2018, nearly 2M Afilias names were registered to Chinese registrants. With today’s announcement, 20 TLDs operated by Afilias are available for sale by Chinese registrars.

“Afilias is excited that our China Registry Service is now supporting 20TLDs for China,” said Kun Qian, Afilias’ China Country Head. “We are pleased that these TLDs have passed MIITs stringent requirements, and we look forward to working closely with our Chinese registrar partners to expand choice for Chinese registrants and enable them to take advantage of these globally recognized TLDs.”

“China’s domain name market is one of the world’s biggest and fastest growing,” said Roland LaPlante, Senior Vice President of Afilias, “and the addition of 15 popular new TLDs should help support even broader adoption and growth of the Internet. We are especially proud to offer .??, which can add fuel to the rapidly expanding mobile market. The new addresses are expected to be a “win-win” for registrars and registrants.”

Afilias also provides registry services to meet the technology needs of clients who operate their own TLDs, including country codes, “dotBrands” and other generic terms. Registry operators wishing to explore the China market should contact Afilias to see if the Afilias China Registry Service might be of interest.

For more information on these newly approved Afilias TLDs: