The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has approved the creation of the new .tel top level domain.

The contract was awarded to UK-based Telnic, which expects the domain to be attractive to providers of emerging networking and telephony technologies such as Voice over IP.

Telnic chief executive Khashayar Mahdavi said that offering flexible control of domain name system technology for buyers of the .tel domain will allow individuals and businesses to control in real time how they can be reached.

Mahdavi explained that individuals can use the .tel domain to publish and update contact information directly within the domain name system.

These individuals can have the option of being contacted via technologies including VoIP, conventional fixed-line or wireless telephony, email, SMS, Skype and AIM.

Telnic will release free applications to allow .tel domains to be integrated with the commonly used address books found in computer systems and mobile phones.