The Afnic Domain Name Industry Report has published new key figures. This month, based on a study of world’s top 50 domain name extensions in 2012, the Report reveals that:
- The ccTLD for mainland China (.cn) had the most spectacular increase, with an annual growth of 113%.
- Among the generic extensions, the .com gTLD was the leader, with an annual growth of 8% in 2012. In terms of the number of domain names, .com also kept top spot with 106 million domain names registered, followed by the .net (15,500,000), .de (Germany, 15.3 million) and .org (10.3 million) extensions.
- Finally, the French extension, the .fr TLD, grew 15% in 2012, i.e. more than twice the average growth rate of all the other extensions (except for .cn), which stood at around 7% in 2012;
Check out these figures and the detailed explanations behind them.
Check out the previous editions of the Afnic Domain Name Industry Report.
The Afnic Industry Report on Domain Names in France has changed format: it has now become a monthly publication, each issue focusing on a specific trend, event or prominent figure.
About Afnic
Afnic is the acronym for Association Française pour le Nommage Internet en Coopération, the French Network Information Centre. The registry has been appointed by the French government to manage domain names under the .fr Top Level Domain. Afnic also manages the .re (Reunion Island), .pm (Saint-Pierre and Miquelon), .tf (French Southern and Antarctic Territories), .wf (Wallis and Futuna) and .yt (Mayotte) French Overseas TLDs.
In addition to managing French TLDs, Afnic’s role is part of a wider public interest mission, which is to contribute on a daily basis, thanks to the efforts of its teams and its members, to a secure and stable internet, open to innovation and in which the French internet community plays a leading role. As part of that mission, Afnic, a non-profit organization, has committed to devoting 11% of its Revenues from managing .fr Top Level Domain to actions of general interest, in particular by transferring €1.3 million each year to the Afnic Foundation for Digital Solidarity.
Afnic is also the back-end registry for the companies as well as local and regional authorities that have chosen to have their own TLD, such as .paris, .bzh, .alsace, .corsica, .mma, .ovh, .leclerc and .sncf.
Established in 1997 and based in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Afnic currently has nearly 90 employees.
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