Moscow authorities will apply for their own domain.

Moscow authorities have decided to apply for their own domain extension. Commenting on the decision, city officials stated that 64% of the capital's active population uses the internet, and 55% of households and apartments are connected to broadband. Moscow's share of RuNet traffic is 45%.

Muscovites own over 13 million domain names. The launch of the new domain extension under the New gTLD program will allow the Russian capital to establish its own online presence and be represented online in the same way as other global capitals such as London, Paris, and New York.

The application for its own domain zone is planned to be submitted by spring 2012. The application will be submitted for two domains at once - .Moscow and .Москква.

Experts estimate the cost of owning a new domain extension at $500,000, with only $185,000 required for the application. Additionally, the domain owner will be required to pay ICANN an annual fee of $25,000.