Taiwan NIC partners Neulevel to market '.tw' domain names

The Taiwan Network Information Centre has announced that it will work with Neulevel to promote the registration of '.tw' domain names outside the Taiwanese and Chinese marketplaces. The move follows a relaxation of domain name registration requirements, allowing foreign entities to register domain names under the appropriate '.tw' extension.

Registrants from outside Taiwan and China will now be able to register '.com.tw', '.org.tw' and '.idv.tw' domain names without the need for a local presence or local representative. Neulevel administers the generic top-level domain '.biz' and the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) '.us', and has become a partner of the administrator of the ccTLD '.cn' in order to market '.cn' domain names outside China. It is currently seeking to establish a network of registrars to offer '.tw' domain names, as it does not plan to deal with registrants directly.

In 2005 the Asia-Pacific region is expected to overtake the United States in terms of the number of people connected to the Internet, making it the world's largest internet market. The availability of '.tw' domain names for registrants outside China and Taiwan is a significant move, particularly as they will be available for registration in both English and Chinese.

David Taylor, Lovells, Paris,