[AfrICANN-discuss] Internet Surpasses 193 Million Domain Name Registrations in First Quarter of 2010

[Anne-Rachel Inné]

News
https://press.verisign.com/easyir/customrel.do?easyirid=AFC0FF0DB5C560D3&version=live&prid=628664&releasejsp=custom_97
Internet
Surpasses 193 Million Domain Name Registrations in First Quarter of 2010 Total
Base of Top Level Domains Achieves Annual Growth of 6 Percent

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- (Marketwire) -- June 8, 2010 -- The Internet grew by 1
million domain names in the first quarter of 2010, according to the latest
Domain Name Industry Brief published by VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), the
trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked
world.

The Domain Name Industry ended the first quarter of 2010 with a base of more
than 193 million domain name registrations across all of the Top Level
Domain Names (TLDs), an increase of 11 million domain name registrations, or
6 percent, compared to the first quarter of 2009. Compared to the fourth
quarter of 2009, domain name registrations grew 0.6 percent.

The overall base of .com and .net domain names grew to 99.3 million domain
names in the first quarter of 2010. This represents a 2.7 percent increase
over the fourth quarter and a 7 percent increase over the same quarter in
2009. New .com and .net registrations were added at an average of
approximately 2.7 million per month in the first quarter of 2010 for a total
of 8.1 million new registrations in the quarter. The renewal rate for the
first quarter of 2010 was 72 percent, an increase from the fourth quarter of
2009, which was 71.2 percent. Quarterly renewal rates may deviate a few
percentage points in either direction each quarter based upon the
composition of the expiring base and the contribution of specific
registrars.

VeriSign's average daily Domain Name System (DNS) query load during first
quarter 2010 was 54 billion per day with peaks as high as 63.2 billion per
day. Compared to fourth quarter 2009, the daily query average and the daily
peak queries both saw an increase of 4 percent. Taken annually, the daily
average increased 41 percent and the peak daily queries grew 43 percent.

*ITIF Report: The Internet Economy 25 Years After .Com*

The latest Domain Name Industry Brief spotlights a new study by the
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a Washington,
D.C.-based think tank. Titled "The Internet Economy 25 Years After .com:
Transforming Commerce &
Life,"<http://www.itif.org/publications/internet-economy-25-years-after-com>the
study draws on a variety of research sources to gauge the commercial
impact of the Internet, in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the
first .com domain name registration.

With one in four people worldwide estimated to use the Internet today, the
report measures the reach of e-commerce in solid terms. For instance, ITIF
estimates that the annual global economic benefits of the commercial
Internet equal $1.5 trillion -- a figure that eclipses the global sales of
medicine, investment in renewable energy, and government investment in R&D,
combined. ITIF also estimates that, assuming e-commerce continues to grow
just half as fast as it grew between 2005 and 2010, then by 2020, it will
add $3.8 trillion to the global economy.

The far-reaching ITIF report also provides a snapshot of Internet use and
its expanding influence on people throughout the world. Among its findings:


   - In Europe, the percentage of online shoppers grew by 85 percent between
   2004 and 2009.
   - Experience with online shopping in developing countries is rapidly
   catching up with that seen in more developed regions. Sixty-three percent of
   Internet users in Latin American and 70 percent of users in Asia Pacific
   countries have made at least one purchase online, for example, compared to
   85 percent of Internet users in North America and Europe.
   - Although online commerce is becoming commonplace worldwide, it's still
   more popular in some countries than others. In assessing 30 nations, ITIF
   found Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States lead the
   rest of the world in shopping, selling, and doing business online.
   - The country with the highest percentage of adult citizens who have
   shopped online is Japan, with 52 percent.

 "As the ITIF study affirms, the commercial Internet has been a
transformational force in the world for the past quarter century," said
Raynor Dahlquist, senior vice president of Naming Services at VeriSign. "To
ensure it continues to drive the evolution of entire industries, it's vital
to make strategic and continuous investments in the Internet infrastructure.
With Project Apollo, VeriSign is building the infrastructure it believes is
essential to manage the Internet's next wave of growth."

VeriSign publishes the Domain Name Industry Brief to provide Internet users
throughout the world with significant statistical and analytical research
and data on the domain name industry and the Internet as a whole. Copies of
the 2010 first quarter Domain Name Industry Brief, as well as previous
reports, can be obtained at
http://www.verisign.com/domain-name-services/domain-information-center/industry-brief/index.html.
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