Domain Year 2011 in Review. Sergey Povalishev, Director of Hoster.by
Today we present the results of the 2011 domain year from Sergey Povalichev, head of Hoster.by (Belarus).
What were the major events on the Belarusian domain market in 2011?
In 2011, more than 17,000 new .BY domains were registered, compared to only 13,000 the previous year. Furthermore, for the first time, individuals began registering more .BY domains than legal entities. This is likely due to the decrease in the domain's value (in dollar terms).
Currently, compared to neighboring countries, the Belarusian national domain is the second most expensive ($11.5). The cheapest is the Lithuanian domain ($10.3), and Poland is third ($12).
What events in the .BY zone can you predict now?
The most anticipated events in 2012 are:
- the procedure for changing the technical administrator of the .BY zone will be completed;
- changes will be made to the rules for registering .BY domains, namely: a WHOIS service will be introduced, and the review of applications by the OAC (Operational and Analytical Center under the President of the Republic of Belarus) and the 30-day "reservation" of domains will be eliminated;
- the domain zone will continue to grow: by the end of 2012, the number of registered .BY domains will exceed 60 thousand.
Do you think Belarusian registrants and registrars will be interested in the .XXX domain? Will this domain truly become popular worldwide?
In our opinion, the .XXX extension won't become popular in Belarus, at the very least due to the underdeveloped adult industry market. Globally, however, the "adult" zone has a bright future; we might soon see searches exclusively for the .XXX extension.
Are there any companies in Belarus that would be interested in applying under the New gTLD program?
The New gTLD program is primarily of interest to large global brands and multinational companies. Since such companies are few in Belarus, there has been little activity in this area. The lack of successful practice (the first such domains will appear only in 2013) and the high cost of registering New gTLDs also discourage potential clients.
How will the situation with Cyrillic ccTLDs (for example, .РФ and .УКР) develop in the future? Is Belarus planning to obtain a similar domain?
New IDN domains will appear not out of any objective necessity, but rather as a fashion statement. Currently, fewer than 50,000 domains are registered in the .BY zone, and plenty of "nice" domains are still available for registration! Therefore, it's unlikely that a domain like, say, .бел will appear in the near future. However, the issue of obtaining a national domain is under the jurisdiction of the domain zone administrator – the Operational and Analytical Center under the President of the Republic of Belarus.
