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.CO Internet S.A.S. is a new company formed by Arcelandia S.A., a wholly-owned Colombian company, and the U.S. company Neustar, Inc, for the purpose of developing and operating the .CO Internet registry. This new partnership will be responsible for the promotion, administration, and technical operation of the .CO TLD.
Neustar, Inc. will operate the technical infrastructure of the .CO domain. The company has more than eight years of experience offering full technical, operational, and policy expertise for numerous domains including .biz, .us, .travel and .TEL. Neustar also operates worldwide registry gateways for other top ccTLDs; offers Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) in 15 languages; and provides comprehensive managed DNS and full-scale registry services with 24/7 customer support on five continents.
The price per domain will be determined by retail registrars. We expect .CO to be very competitive within the industry, while reflecting the value of registering a global, recognizable, and credible domain name.
The launch of .CO second level domains will involve a multi-phase Launch Plan to ensure for the stable and orderly distribution of domains. The plan involves a comprehensive Sunrise Period for trademark holders, a Landrush Period for those interested in names of high commercial value, and finally General Availability when names become available to the public on a first come, first served basis. Learn more about the launch timeline.
.CO will enjoy liberal registration policies following international best practices:
.CO will be positioned as a premium domain name space, available only through a select list of registrars that meet stringent criteria and are committed to the proper development of the domain. Great attention is being placed on the marketing of .CO as a global, recognizable, and credible domain name, and we look to our registrar partners to be aligned with that goal.
During the first year of operations, .CO will be exclusively supported by 10 registrars. Other registrars may participate as resellers of those 10, but not directly.
After the first year of operations we will begin to open the space progressively to additional registrars that meet the accreditation criteria.
We believe .CO is a unique opportunity for businesses and individuals as there is a need for more options in branding yourself online with short and memorable domain names.
We recently retained Penn, Schoen and Berland, a global market research firm, to conduct a study of 600 past and prospective domain registrants. From that study we learned that .CO domains in the second level are:
Simply put, .CO is global, recognizable and credible, and therefore highly desirable in this competitive business environment. Create your opportunity with .CO!
.CO is following established best practices in trademark and IP protection to ensure that the domain is launched in an equitable and sustainable way. From our technology partner Neustar to our validation partner Deloitte who is managing the sunrise, .CO will be launched in a responsible and secure manner, making it an asset to trademark holders and a tremendous opportunity for companies, entrepreneurs and individuals globally.
As part of our bid to the Ministry of Communications (MINTIC), .CO Internet S.A.S. proposed not to implement a wildcard in the .CO space.
A “wildcard” consists of redirecting unresolved traffic (non-existent domains) to a landing page that is controlled by the registry, ISP, or DNS operator. This practice, although common amongst the mayor ISPs and some DNS operators, has been thought to create technical glitches in the DNS. Most importantly, in our view, the use of a wildcard by the operator of a registry has a negative impact on the credibility of the registry, and, in the case of a ccTLD, a negative impact on the perception of the Country itself.
In observance of international best practices and ICANN recommendations, our proposal to MINTIC specifically outlined our company’s intent NOT to implement a wildcard system as part of the registry’s operations.
According to the new policy, priority is given only to those that registered the domain prior to the approval date of the new policy: July 30, 2008. Please review the Launch Plan information for further details.
The Colombian government, in consultation for the local Internet community, .has made .CO domains available globally in a responsible and secure manner.
.CO will never cease to be Colombia’s ccTLD, but it will be marketed to a global user base. .CO is a relevant, credible, and global domain name extension.
Trademark holders within valid jurisdictions can apply for exact-match domain names. Trademark applications will be validated by Deloitte.
Anyone can apply for a domain name during this period. Single applications are awarded at the end of the period and matching applications go to auction. Stay tuned for more details.
Final phase of the the launch plan. Domain registrations become available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis. Stay tuned for more details.
Create Your Opportunity with .CO