The .tel top-level domain was opened up for trademark-owner registration on Wednesday.
The new top-level domain (TLD) opens up to the public on 2 February but, between now and then, businesses and organisations will be able to register their trademarks during a so-called 'sunrise period'. Telnic, the new domain's registry operator, is pitching .tel domains as listings in "the first global, mobile-optimised online directory".
"The launch of .tel represents the most significant innovation in the domain-name system [DNS] since the advent of .com," said Telnic's chief executive, Khashayar Mahdavi, in Wednesday's statement. "Essentially, the .tel offers businesses of all sizes a fast, efficient, adaptable and intelligent service that will let customers interact with them in any way they want."
The .tel domains operate differently to others, in that they do not use the DNS to map text-based user requests (or URLs) through to IP addresses. Instead, they use the DNS itself as a repository for basic, text-based information, such as telephone numbers, email addresses and links to social-network profile pages and other websites. The idea is to have a simple hub for a person or business's contact information, without requiring a full website to be built. The information can be controlled through an online dashboard.
Basic textual information, such as keywords describing a business's services, can also be stored on a .tel domain. Telnic is also promoting the storage of location-based information, such as geographical co-ordinates, on the domain. The company said that this, alongside the textual nature of the data, makes the system ideal for mobile phones with GPS and limited browsing.
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Some stored details can be made public, with others being encrypted to protect the domain holder's privacy.
The cost of buying a .tel domain during the sunrise period is variable and depends on the registrar that is used. A spokesperson for Telnic told ZDNet UK on Thursday, however, that most domains should be around the $400 (£271) mark for a three-year registration. Once .tel goes public, the spokesperson said, registrations will be roughly equivalent in price to other TLDs, such as .com or .org.
Talkback
I've been following the dot tel domains story, and even with the open registrations, I would suggest there hasn't been a big wave of interest. To me, it's a combination of lack of knowledge on what tel domains are and also the steep price tag for them. Once in Feb 2009 the price drops and that's when I'd expect to see more buzz. People I believe are tired of hearing about new domains like .pro, .mobi, etc etc. Nothing new with those but dot tel is such a different animal. I've put together a tel domains faq info site if anyone is interested. <a href="http://www.teldomainnamesfaq.com">Tel Domains FAQs</a>