DSTI/ICCP/TISP(2004)2/FINAL 

ccTLD registries 

ccTLD registries are responsible for the country code TLDs. While ccTLDs are not the subject of this 

paper it is necessary to take them into account because they do provide services than could be considered 

substitutable for gTLDs. ccTLDs clearly provide competition to gTLDs, in their home markets, by 

providing an alternative option for users. Beyond that, a growing number of ccTLDs are being marketed 

outside their `home country' to a particular community or to the global market 

(

e.g.

.bz

,

 .cc

,

 .md

,

 .ms

,

 .nu

,

 .pn

,

 .tv

,

 .vg

,

 .ws

). In some of these cases the meaning of the ISO 3166 1 

country code top level domain is played down relative to a concept marketed with the name (

e.g.

.bz

 for 

business instead of Belize). 

Historically, most ccTLDs were operated by academic or governmental organisations. Some academic 

or governmental organisations still play a role as a registry. However, most ccTLDs registries have shifted 

from voluntary or 

ad hoc

 arrangements to having a dedicated institutional basis with private sector 

involvement. Some are run for profit and others are not for profit. Whereas gTLDs registries need to have 

an agreement with ICANN, it is not necessary for ccTLD registries to have a registry agreement with 

ICANN. However, some ccTLDs registries have voluntarily entered into such an agreement with ICANN.    

Market share of gTLD registries 

If the gTLD market is defined as a separate and distinct market (

i.e.

 excluding ccTLDs) then Verisign 

acts as the registry for 85% of all registrations (

Figure 2

). The Public Interest Registry (PIR) is the second 

largest gTLD registry due to its responsibility for the 

.org

 domain. Afilias performs the back end registry 

responsibilities for the PIR. The PIR Afilias combination has an 8% market share of all gTLD registrations. 

Afilias is also the registry responsible for the 

.info

 domain. The 

.info

 registry function translates into a 3% 

market share. NeuLevel is the company responsible for the 

.biz

 domain. NeuLevel's market share was 2%.  

All other registries make up less than 1% of the gTLD market. 

Figure 2.  Market share of gTLDs registries, December 2003 

NeuLevel

GNR

Afilias

2.72%

0.32%

sTLDs Registries

3.16%

0.04%

PIR (Afilias)

8.18%

VeriSign

85.59%

Source

: OECD, based on Registry Monthly Reports. 

 13