Companies warm to .tel domain

Some are speculating that the popularity of .tel is simply down to companies protecting their brands

Well-known brands are flocking to snap up .tel top level domains, according to registry operator Telnic.

The company said that it has already received thousands of applications for domains in the mobile-optimised contacts directory for the internet.

Unlike standard domains associated with a web site, .tel domains are controlled largely by Telnic and point directly to a Telnic web page that houses and presents the respective domain name owner's contact data. Companies can edit the relevant information only via Telnic's web site control panel.

"We are delighted to see applications from such a breadth of businesses and categories worldwide," said Khashayar Mahdavi, chief executive at Telnic.

"Trademark owners have obviously got the message that .tel is a huge departure from .com-type domains that host web content, and is instead an innovative platform for communications."

However, some observers have speculated that companies are simply applying for the new domains into order to protect their brand and trademarks from cyber squatters, and have little or no intention of making use of them.

Similar to the recent launch of the .asia domain, the rollout of .tel will be done in stages, giving trademark owners and other brand holders an opportunity to buy up related domains before applications are opened to the general public.

Telnic said that thousands of famous companies from every facet of business submitted their applications within the first few hours of the two-month sunrise period.

Trademark owners have until 2 February 2009 to register their trademarks for .tel domains in this protected period, after which time the names will become available to the public at large. Disputes will then have to be settled through the Universal Dispute Resolution Process run by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.