Nominet, the registry operator that manages *.uk, is planning on releasing both single and two character domain names.
In common with a lot of other ccTLD registry operators, Nominet had blocked single and two character domain names from being registered. However they are now planning on releasing them to the public in a phased plan.
The exact details of “how” the domains will become available have not been decided, which is why the registry is now conducting a consultation period with the public.
The current proposal is not drastically different to the kind of methodology used by several of the gTLD registry operators to handle similar scenarios, although there are a few extra twists. To start with Nominet is speaking of the entire project in terms of “cost recovery”, whereas other registries have used this kind of release as a revenue generator. The other thing which is quite interesting is how they plan to differentiate based on the second level ie. org.uk domains, according to their proposal, should be given to charities and not for profits, while co.uk should go to business users. While this is very logical it’s still interesting to note that they’ve “gone back to basics” in some respects.
You can view full details of what Nominet are planning on their site and share your thoughts.
It will be interesting to see how the Nominet registrars and the public react to this news.
