When the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic in March 2020, slightly more than half of the world’s citizens had access to the internet. Connectivity allowed many people to work, receive services, and socialize without physical contact—a key factor in limiting the virus’s spread. Did people with internet access, then, benefit from reduced exposure to COVID-19?
[news release] An operation coordinated by INTERPOL codenamed HAECHI-II saw police arrest more than 1,000 individuals and intercept a total of nearly US$27 million of illicit funds, underlining the global threat of cyber-enabled financial crime.
It’s been 10 years this month since Neustar launched .co, taking it from “just” Colombia’s ccTLD to a top-level domain recognised around the world.
Continue reading .CO Celebrating 10 Years of Innovation
Colombiaâs ccTLD has been around a lot longer than 9 years, but 9 years ago when there were only 28,000 .co domain names, all of them registered within Colombia, there was a big change. Eligibility rules were liberalised and .co today is treated as a gTLD rather than a ccTLD and there are now more than 2.3 million domain names registered.
In a post on the go.co blog, thanks is given âto the great vision and forward-thinking of Colombiaâs Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (MINTIC), and a liberalised set of registration policies, on July 20th 2010, the registration restrictions were lifted on second-level .CO domains, effectively opening up the namespace to the entire world. This happened to coincide with Colombiaâs Independence Day, so celebration was in the air among the .CO team.â
Prior to July 2010 the only way to register a .co domain name was by being a resident of Colombia.
Today those 2.3 million .co domain names for Colombiaâs country code top level domain are registered in nearly 200 countries and territories worldwide. And over the years, a lot of the seeds that started out with us have grown into mighty oaks, including Angel List (angel.co), 500 Startups (500.co), Twitter (t.co), Common Bond (commonbond.co), WeWork (we.co), Rebel Girls (rebelgirls.co), Mirror (mirror.co), Fitpal (fitpal.co), and, well, millions more!
Chinaâs Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has approved .co for full commercial operations in the worldâs most populous country, meaning Chinese .co registrants can now host their domain names and websites on Chinese servers.
While there have been several generic top level domains that the Chinese government has given such approval to, .co is the first country code top level domain (ccTLD) to receive such approval.
.CO is the ccTLD for Colombia, but since 2010 has been managed by .CO Internet S.A.S. in Bogota, Colombia, which today is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Neustar. It has been marketed as a generic top level domain (gTLD) and Google indexes .co sites as such.
Since launching for worldwide domain registrations in 2010, vast numbers of technology innovators and entrepreneurs have chosen .CO web addresses. Regularly identified with successful startups and world-famous brands, .COâs âhalo effectâ â a certain credibility granted to startup companies adopting .CO domains â is a powerful benefit that is already enjoyed by millions of brands, businesses and entrepreneurs, and will now be available to the Chinese market.
âThe final barrier our Chinese .CO domain owners have faced has now been overcome,â said Crystal Peterson, .CO Internet Director of Sales and Marketing. âDomain names ending in .CO are now fully approved in China along with Chinaâs own .CN top-level domain, and other well-known global domains, such as .com and .biz.â
The .co TLD, rebranded from being the Colombian ccTLD to being a “generic” TLD has been a hit since with registrations passing the two million mark in January, and despite increasing competition from the new gTLDs growth has grown ten percent in 2014 to 18 percent in 2015.”Since its global launch five years ago, .CO continues to grow and has become the domain name of choice for innovators, entrepreneurs and businesses in more than 200 countries around the world,” said Sean Kaine, Vice President of Registry at Neustar.Global brands like Twitter (t.co and Vine.co), Google (g.co and campus.co) and Taco Bell (ta.co) have all used .co domains and helped to bring mainstream awareness and adoption to .CO.Additionally, hundreds of thousands of innovators, entrepreneurs and start-ups have chosen .co as their domain, including high profile organizations like 500 Startups (500.co), Angel List (Angel.co), Up Global (Up.co) and Common Bond (CommonBond.co) to name just a few.Demand has grown in China as well. In the last quarter there has been a sharp rise in demand from Chinese investors. Interest from China has been particularly strong in connection with two-character number-number and letter-letter premium domain names.As part of their “celebration” in reaching the two million mark, Neustar have provided some facts about the two million registered .co domains:
Neustar, Inc., a trusted, neutral provider of real-time information services, today (20 July) celebrates the fifth birthday of the .CO web extension. The .CO domain is rapidly becoming the No. 1 choice for innovators and entrepreneurs seeking to build, and amplify their global digital presence.âToday, the domain industry is in the middle of a radical transformation, opening up opportunities for an unprecedented level of innovation and opportunity,â said Lori Anne Wardi, Vice President of Registry Services, Neustar. âThe businesses, brands, and ideas that are being created on .CO every day on a global scale are fundamentally changing the landscape of the Internet, and Neustar has been instrumental in driving that change.â
The Internet is currently at an inflection point offering businesses, brands, entrepreneurs and innovators an opportunity to shape the fabric of their online existence. With the explosion of connected devices, the opening of the Internetâs domain naming system, and the proliferation of mobile computing, brands have a new opportunity to shape their interactions with consumers. Neustar has been helping companies establish, protect and promote their online presence for over fifteen years, and continues to help organizations navigate this new frontier.
â.CO symbolizes creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, which is exactly what Techstars is all about,â said Marc Nager, Chief Community Officer, Techstars. âFor the past five years we have partnered with .CO through our Startup Weekend Events, and have provided tens of thousands of entrepreneurs in every corner of the world with .CO domains to help launch their businesses, brands and big ideas online,â he added.
Short and memorable, .CO domains are indexed and ranked by major search engines exactly the same way as .com and .org extensions. More than just a domain, choosing a .CO domain gives businesses and brands access to exclusive perks, privileges and promotions. .COâs âMembership Programâ helps speed the path to digital success through carefully curated promotions, such as free SEO consulting and tickets to top technology conferences. Neustar is committed to fostering a thriving community of digital visionaries who are building the future of the Internet together, one URL at a time. Neustar is the official registry operator for Colombiaâs .CO domain.
.CO Birthday Milestones
In celebration of .COâs fifth birthday, Neustar is providing a set of exclusive offers to its community of innovators and entrepreneurs through its Membership Program, which include free public relations consulting, memberships to co-working space, and access to high value software to help startup founders run their business.
The number of domain names under management around the world is creeping closer towards the 300 million mark, with four million added, an increase of 1.6 percent, across all top level domains in the third quarter of 2014 taking the total to 284 million according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief published by Verisign.For the 12 months to the end of September 2014, registrations, or domains under management, increased by 18.1 million or 6.8 percent. This compares to the 12 months to the end of September 2012 when registrations grew by 26.4 million, or 12 percent.For .com and .net, while they experienced aggregate growth in the third quarter of 2014, .net is in decline in total registration numbers. The combined total for the two gTLDs was 130.0 million in the adjusted zone for .com and .net, up 10.1 million in two years. This represents a 3.3 percent increase year over year compared to a 7.1 percent increase for the equivalent 12 month period two years ago. As of 30 September 2014, the base of registered names in .com equalled 114.9 million names, while .net equalled 15.1 million names compared to 105 million and 14.9 million respectively two years ago.Looking back at previous DNIBs, .net registrations peaked at around 15.2 million at the end of 2013 and early 2014. But since then the gTLD has shed around 300,000 domains coinciding with the introduction of new gTLDs.New .com and .net registrations totalled 8.7 million during the third quarter of 2014, compared to 7.8 million in 2012 and 8.3 million in 2013.The top 10 largest gTLDs and ccTLDs marketed as gTLDs by zone size were .com, .tk, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .co, .mobi, .me and .tv, as of 30 September, accounting for for 179.2 million domain name registrations, or 63.1 percent of the total global domain name registrations.Total ccTLD registrations were approximately 132.1 million in the third quarter, with the addition of 3.2 million domain names, or a 2.5 percent increase compared to the second quarter of 2014. This is an increase of approximately 12.8 million domain names, or 10.7 percent, from a year ago.The combined ccTLDs have also been experiencing a slowing of growth. In the year to the end of September 2012, there were 18 million domain names added, or an increase of 20.7 percent.Among the 10 largest ccTLDs, .tk grew the fastest, at 9.1 percent overall quarter over quarter growth. There were 285 global ccTLD extensions delegated in the root (including Internationalised Domain Names), with the top 10 ccTLDs comprising 67.1 percent of all ccTLD registrations.For the new gTLDs, there were 413 new gTLDs delegated into the root at the end of the quarter, with 91 new gTLDs delegated during the third quarter of 2014. New gTLD registrations totalled 2.0 million, or 1.3 percent of total gTLD registrations.During the third quarter of 2014, Verisign’s average daily Domain Name System (DNS) query load was 114 billion (67 billion in 2012) across all TLDs operated by Verisign, with a peak of 318 billion (102 billion in 2012), the highest average and peak query loads in a single quarter to date. Compared to the previous quarter, the daily average increased 20.1 percent and the peak increased 55.6 percent. Year over year, the daily average query load increased 40 percent and the peak query load increased 202.1 percent.For those interested, this quarter’s DNIB featured article is “Cryptocurrency and the Domain Name System” offering a primer on cryptocurrency and the DNS.Copies of the 2014 third quarter Domain Name Industry Brief, as well as previous reports, can be obtained at VerisignInc.com/DNIB.
Five million domain names were added across all TLDs across the globe in the first quarter of 2014, replicating the number added in the fourth quarter of 2013, Verisign announced in their latest Domain Name Industry Brief, taking the total Domains Under Management to 276 million as of 31 March.The increase of five million domain names in the first quarter globally equates to a growth rate of 1.7 percent for the quarter, compared to 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter 2013. Worldwide registrations have grown by 19.3 million (18.5 million in the calendar year of 2013), or 7.5 percent (7.3%), year over year.The .com and .net TLDs experienced aggregate growth, reaching a combined total of approximately 128.5 million domain names in the adjusted zone in the first quarter of 2014. This represents a four percent increase year over year. This compares to the year ending 31 December 2013, when the figures were 127.2 million and five percent. As of 31 March, 2014, the DUM in .com equalled 113.2 million names (112m at the end of Q4), while .net equalled 15.2 million names, the same as for the end of Q4, 2013.New .com and .net registrations totalled 8.6 million during the first quarter of 2014. In the first quarter of 2013, new .com and .net registrations totalled 8.8 million. These figures were up on the fourth quarter of 2013 where new registrations were 8.2 million and 8.0 million in Q4 2012. This could reflect seasonal variations but it could also show new gTLDs aren’t impeding new .com registrations.In their report, Verisign provide some pieces of trivia, including the 69 percent of all .com websites are in English. Another two are that over 95 percent of networks are compromised in some way while internet users send 204 million emails per minute.Among ccTLDs, 27.1 million domain names were added, a 2.9 percent increase quarter over quarter, and a 13.1 percent increase year over year. Among the top TLDs overall, .ru (Russia) moved up one place to eighth, swapping places with .info.The largest TLDs in order by zone size were .com, .tk (Tokelau – 25.5m), .de (Germany – 15.7m), .net, .uk (United Kingdom – 10.5m – Nov 2013), .org (10.4m), .cn (China – 10.7m), .ru (Russian Federation – 4.9m – August 2013), .info (5.6m) and .nl (Netherlands – 5.5m).*Among the 20 largest ccTLDs, four exceeded 4 percent overall quarter-over-quarter growth: Tokelau (8.0 percent), Argentina (7.2 percent), India (15.2 percent) and Colombia (12.4 percent). This marks four straight quarters where Tokelau has exceeded 4 percent growth.As of 31 March, there were 283 global ccTLD extensions delegated in the root (including Internationalised Domain Names), with the top 10 ccTLDs comprising 65.8 percent of all ccTLD registrations.Again as of 31 March, there were 198 new gTLDs delegated into the root; 125 of which were delegated during the first quarter of 2014.During the first quarter of 2014, Verisign’s average daily Domain Name System (DNS) query load was 85 billion across all TLDs operated by Verisign, with a peak of 120 billion. Compared to the previous quarter, the daily average increased 3.4 percent and the peak increased 20.6 percent. Year over year, the daily average query load increased 14.8 percent and the peak query load increased 6 percent.As more companies bring their businesses online, there is an increased concern over domain name security. This quarter’s featured article, “The Domain Threat Landscape: Protecting Critical Infrastructure Requires a Layered Security Approach” provides a brief summary of domain name hijacking and some preventative measures and tools to help ensure your domain name is secure.The report is available for download from:
www.verisigninc.com/en_US/innovation/dnib/index.xhtml * Registry statistics are sourced from RegistrarStats.com, domain-recht.de and individual registries. Registries sometimes do not provide up to date statistics publicly which explains discrepancies.
Neustar has announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire .CO Internet S.A.S. and certain associated assets. .CO Internet is the exclusive operator of the worldwide registry for the .co ccTLD, which has been rebranded as a gTLD.
Since its global relaunch in 2010, registrations have grown to more than 1.6 million in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Neustar has an existing partnership with .CO Internet to provide registry services and infrastructure support for .co extensions, the ccTLD assigned to Colombia.
âThe acquisition of .CO Internet is a natural fit for us given our successful partnership over the past four years and our domain name expertise,â said Lisa Hook, president and CEO of Neustar. âBy combining .CO Internet’s innovative domain marketing capabilities with Neustar’s distribution network and technical resources, we will be able to broaden our registry services and the .co brand worldwide, while creating shareholder value.â
The acquisition of .CO Internet expands Neustar’s registry services, which maintains the .biz and .us TLDs and has been selected to provide services for up to 350 new gTLDs.
To provide perspective, .CO Internet exited 2013 with an annual revenue run-rate of $21 million. However, business combination accounting principles require Neustar to adjust the acquired deferred revenue to fair value. This adjustment to fair value often results in a write-down of deferred revenue that will reduce future revenue recognised as the services are performed, typically over a one year period. During 2013, Neustar recorded $4 million in revenue for its role as the back-end provider for .CO Internet, which will be eliminated upon consolidation. In addition, results for the first quarter of 2014 will include pursuit costs associated with this transaction.
The acquisition is subject to standard closing conditions and is expected to close within one month. Following the acquisition, .CO Internet, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Neustar, will continue to manage the .co domain extensions from its headquarters in Bogota, Colombia.