17 June 2004 86/04

DEMAND FOR WEB DELIVERS COST SAVINGS TO CONSUMERS

The rapidly increasing demand for web addresses is pushing down the price of registering '.au' domain names.

An increasing number of Australian businesses and consumers are choosing to develop a web presence by establishing their own domain name.

Over the last year, the total number of .au domains grew to more than 433,000 and more than 110,000 new '.com.au' names were registered.

This growth has enabled au Domain Administration (auDA), the not-for-profit organisation responsible for administering the '.au' domain, to reduce its fee from $10 to $7.50 from 1 August.

This fee is one part of the cost of a domain name and is the second price cut in the last 12 months for Australian domains, with AusRegistry also reducing the wholesale price for domains late last year. AusRegistry operates the registry system in Australia and effectively manages the second level domains such as '.com.au', '.net.au' and '.org.au'.

The total fee for a '.au' domain name is made up of fees from auDA, AusRegistry and registrars who sell domain names to the public.

For '.com.au' names, the retail price currently varies between $60 and $140 for up to three years, depending on the registrar and the services they offer.

Today's announcement shows the Government has taken the right approach to managing the '.au' domain space by endorsing auDA as the administrator for the domain in 2002.

The ongoing development and growth of the '.au' domain, within a sound policy framework, will continue to benefit all Australians.

I look forward to this most recent cost saving being passed on to consumers by individual domain name registrars.

 

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Media Contact: Carina Tan-Van Baren (02) 6277 7480 or 0439 425 373