The government on Thursday said Internet domain names having .in (dot in) can be registered online from January 1, 2005 to generate more Internet traffic within the country which could increase the speed of the Net and reduce the tariffs for subscribers.
From January 1, 2005, companies can get .in domain name online. With the new policy, the minimum fee charged by the .in registry will be Rs 250 and Rs 750 per year for registration at third and second levels, respectively, the Union IT and Communications Minister told newspersons in New Delhi.
Maran said he would request private and government ISPs to register under the .in domain as a gesture of patriotism.
"I am happy to see a French company today advertising in India under its .in name site address. If they can, why can't we?" he said.
Maran said this will also help increase Internet speed in the country and reduce the high tariffs as due to a country domain name, a lot of Internet traffic will be generated inside the country.
He also announced the setting up of a National Internet Exchange of India formed by the Department of IT in association with the Internet Service Providers Association of India.
NIXI aims to ensure that the Internet traffic which originates within India and also has destinations in India remains within the country (instead of going to the overseas server in the host country, mostly the US), resulting in improved traffic latency, reduced cost and better security.
As part of the implemetation of NIXI, 4 Internet Exchange Nodes have been set up at Noida, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, Maran said, adding 34 Internet service providers have already joined as members.
The government is also considering setting up second tier of NIXI hubs in a few provincial capitals in partnership with the state governments and ISPs as the stake holders.
"This would help address the problem of excessive cost of connectivity for the class B and C ISPs in smaller cities," he said.
The .in registry will offer a 90-day 'sunrise period' to the registered trademark owners, registered companies and owners of intellectual property to secure registration of their domain names.
Also, the zones for government, military and educational institutions would be reserved exclusively by the respective organisations, he said, adding that registration for these will be offered by NIC -- an organisation jointly nominated by defence ministry and ERNET.
The general public would not be allowed to avail the names of constitutional authorities, states and union territories and those used by the .in registry.
Unlimited generic .in registration will be offered at both second and third levels in the globally popular zones of domain registration like .co.in and .org.in.
At present, there are 60 million domain names globally, out of which 40 million constitute the .com names and the remaining 20 million are country-specific. In India, however, the .in domain number is less than 7,000.
