.au domain registrations grow by 24%
 
Melbourne, 6 August 2003 - auDA today published a statistical analysis
of the first 12 months of the new .au domain name regime at 
http://www.auda.org.au/docs/ausregistry-y1-0203.pdf
<http://public.ho.auda.org.au/docs/ausregistry-y1-0203.pdf> . 
 
The overall number of domain names in .au has increased by 24% with
com.au registrations rising by 21% and net.au registrations by 57%.
 
'The introduction of competition and the changes in naming policy have
led to this growth at a time when, in global domain name spaces such as
.com, registrations are declining' said auDA CEO, Chris Disspain.
 
The number of accredited registrars has increased from 9 at the
commencement of the new regime to 19.
 
'This increase demonstrates the success of the introduction of
competition into the market place' said Disspain. 'The industry
continues to mature with the ongoing development of the Code of Practice
and an increasing level of communication between registrars as a group,
the registry and auDA'.
 
AusRegistry has exceeded and continues to exceed all performance levels
set by auDA in its Service Level Agreement.
 
'The registry service levels required by auDA are set to world's best
practice standards. AusRegistry continues to surpass these as well as
refining and updating its systems and technologies' Disspain said. 
 
'auDA believes that this first year has demonstrated that the new
systems are stable and secure and that the policies and framework of .au
provide a competitive market place within which registrars can
successfully operate and the number of domain registrations can grow'. 
 
-ENDS-
 
For media contact:
 
auDA:
Chris Disspain
Chief Executive Officer
tel: 03 9349 4711
email: ceo&#167;auda.org.au