.Wales Domains Go On Sale

Welsh businesses or organisations can now get that extra bit of national pride online following the official launch of the .Wales and .Cymru domain names.

Anyone can apply for the domain names, which include a list of popular terms that carry a £50 reserve price plus application and registration fees.

If more than one person wants to register a domain, an auction will determine who will win the registration.

Open for business

From March 1 all .cymru and .wales domain names will be offered on a first come, first served basis.

The new .cymru and .wales domains have already started going live, with the Welsh Assembly being the first to switch on its new address.

The campaign has also seen strong backing coming from many organisations, including the Welsh government, S4C, Sport Wales, the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, the Scarlets rugby team, the Welsh Rugby Union, the Millennium Stadium, the Arts Council for Wales, Golwg360, Bloc, Gwalia, Atlantic PLC, Orchard and Portmeirion.

“The new domain names create a fantastic opportunity for Wales that support development of businesses, communities and the Welsh language online,” said Carwyn Jones, first minister.

“It means we could use the top level domain names to establish a strong online presence, which truly reflects our national identity”.

Wales becomes the latest part of the UK to gain its own unique domain names. In September, Scottish businesses were able to register for a .Scot domain following an agreement made earlier this year with international regulators Icann, although these only cost £25.

In June, the UK as a whole finally caught up with many other countries by launching top-level .UK domains, which according to provider Nominet should prove more eye-catching and less ‘corporate’. .UK domains cost £3.50 for a single year and £2.50 for multi-year registrations.

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