According to Nominet, which holds the national database for all
.uk domains, the average number of .uk registrations was 110,000 a
month in 2005 – up from 80,000 per month last year.
This, says Nominet, is the equivalent of the population of
Cheltenham creating new .uk internet domain addresses each and
every month.
Independent research commissioned by Nominet also reveals that
.uk web addresses are the first port of call for the vast majority
of Britons searching for information and purchases online.
The YouGov survey of 2,000 internet users shows that almost half
of Britons (47%) feel reassured that they can contact a .uk company
easily by other means, such as telephone or mail, because they have
a UK presence.
More than a third (34%) also have their confidence in .uk
websites boosted because they are expected to adhere to UK trade
laws.
According to Lesley Cowley, Chief Executive at Nominet:
"The UK internet industry is experiencing
substantial growth as witnessed by the increase in registrations of
.uk internet addresses. The combination of greater broadband take
up and the established popularity of .uk domain names demonstrates
that the UK internet industry is more buoyant than ever."
The growth in .uk registrations is reflected worldwide.
Figures released yesterday by VeriSign, the registry for all
domains ending .com and .net, show that total domain name
registrations have reached an all time high of 82.9 million,
representing an 8% growth since the first quarter of 2005 and a 28%
increase since the second quarter of 2004.
The total number of .com and .net domains at the end of the
second quarter amounted to 44.2 million, with .com representing 46%
of all registered domains. Collectively, said VeriSign, country
code top-level domains such as .uk and .de (Germany) account for
35% of all domains, with .net representing 7%.
