A total of 23 qualified registering organizations or so-called registrars have been given the right to register secondary domain names using the ".cn" suffix.

"They will be responsible for the registration of secondary domain names using '.cn' and organizations will be able to choose their online 'name cards' with much more freedom," said Liu Zhijiang, deputy director of CNNIC (China National Internet Network Information Center), which manages the country's domain name system.

CNNIC - previously the registry and regulator - will give up handling registration by itself and become the managing body, according to Liu.

"The introduction of 23 registrars enables users to feel the benefits of competition," Liu stated.

When a registrar sells one generic top-level domain name (TLDN) such as abc.com, it needed to pay US$6 to VeriSign Inc in the United States, a digital trust provider for the worldwide web.

But in the case of a ".cn" domain names, it needs only pay 20,000 yuan (US$2,400) a year to CNNIC, no matter how many it sells and applicants do not have to pay anything.

It is estimated that there are about 700,000 generic TLDNs in China, which means domain name owners need to pay US$4.2 million to VeriSign every year.

Liu said the secondary domain name system would simplify the registration process and offer more name resources.

Whereas registrars need to verify business licences and applications of applying companies or organizations, the new regulations mean applicants will get their domain names within 6 hours after filling in a form on the websites of any of the 23 registrars.

The new domain system offers applicants a shorter online address, such as abc.cn, instead of a tertiary-level abc.com.cn.

This will be more attractive to businesses and organizations, said an executive surnamed Liu, with Xiamen-based China Channel, one of the 23 registrars.

Tertiary domain name owners have the right to upgrade the names to secondary level from March 17, 2003.

And there has been a constant rise in the registration of new domain names since August following publication of the new domain name system by the Ministry of Information Industry.

Statistics from CNNIC showed the registration of tertiary-level domain names using ".cn" dropped to 126,146 by June - the lowest in the past 18 months.

But 145,247 names had been registered by the end of November.

(China Daily December 17, 2002)