Over 180 million domain names: Registered

The Internet now has as many as over 180 million domain names. The first quarter of 2009 ended with a total base of nearly 183 million domain name registrations across all of the Top Level Domain Names (TLDs), says Domain Name Industry Brief published by VeriSign Inc.

The number represents a three percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2008 and a 12 percent increase over the same quarter last year. Of these 183 million, the total number of domain names in India was 1.4 million as on March 31, 2009, with approximately 800,000 .com and .net domain names.


Country Code TLDs (ccTLDs) rose to 74.1 million domain names globally during the first quarter, a four percent jump from the previous quarter and an 18 percent increase year over year.

However, .com remains the most popular TLD category, followed by .cn (China), .de (Germany) and .net. The composition in fact remains same as in fourth quarter of 2008. The first quarter is historically strongest for registrations in the domain name industry, and Q1 2009 was no exception, with an average of 2.4 million new .com and .net registrations added each month.

During the quarter, the overall base of .com and .net domain names grew to 92.4 million domain names. This represents a two percent increase from Q4 2008, a jump of nine percent over the same quarter of the previous year, and an increase of 34 percent over the first quarter of 2007.

“As the authoritative registry for .com and .net domain names, VeriSign has a unique view into the pulse of the Internet,” said Jill Corso McNabb, vice president, Naming Services at VeriSign. “DNS resolution truly comprises the backbone of what makes the Internet operate across the globe.

DNS becomes even more critical to the overall infrastructure of the Internet not only as Internet usage grows but also as innovative products and services related to the DNS proliferate.”

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