.eu Q4 2010 report reveals sustained annual growth

March 3, 2011 - PRLog -- London, 3 March 2011 – EURid, the .eu top-level domain (TLD) registry, issued today its quarterly progress report for Q4 2010, revealing 6% annual growth in .eu web address registrations for 2010 compared with 5% annual growth in 2009.

“.eu continued its upward trend during 2010, allowing us to meet our objective of sustained growth. This shows .eu’s increasing popularity with the businesses, organisations and people of the European Union,” said Marc Van Wesemael, General Manager of EURid.

.eu remains one of top-ten largest TLDs in the world, completing 2010 with more than 3.3 million registered .eu domain names. The increase in .eu registrations was driven by dramatic growth in Bulgaria (43%) and Estonia (39%), and by strong growth in some larger markets, including Poland (14%) and Italy (14%).

Year over year, registrations in Germany grew by 6% in 2010. With more than one million .eu domain names registered, Germany retains its first position in the top-ten list of countries. Together, the top ten countries account for 86% of all .eu registrations in 2010. Also in the list, the Czech Republic grew by 23%, Italy 14%, Poland 14% and Spain 11%. The UK experienced negative annual growth (-0.4%) but grew by 2% in Q4.

.eu registrations increased in 26 of the 27 EU Member States during Q4 2010 with significant growth in Bulgaria (25%), Romania (14%) and Estonia (10%). Domain name renewal rates remained above industry average at a healthy 77% in Q4.

2010 highlights noted in the quarterly report include:
•   .eu zone signed for Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), June
•   .eu DNSSEC chain of trust completed, September  
•   Germany passed one million registered .eu domain names landmark, September
•   DNSSEC uptake findings published as a .eu Insights report, November
•   First anniversary of .eu Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs), December.

EURid’s full report for Q4 2010 is available for download from http://link.eurid.eu/reports  



About .eu and EURid
The .eu domain ranks among the ten largest top-level domains in the world, connecting 500 million people in 27 EU countries to one Internet identity. More than three million .eu names have been registered since the domain opened for registration in 2005. Many companies use a .eu website as a practical solution to convey a clear European identity, including Bridgestone, Century 21, Hyundai, the MAN Group, Microsoft and the UniCredit Group.

EURid is the not-for-profit organisation appointed by the European Commission to operate the .eu top-level domain. EURid works with over 850 accredited registrars and provides support in the 23 official EU languages. With headquarters in Brussels (Belgium), EURid also has regional offices in Pisa (Italy), Prague (the Czech Republic) and Stockholm (Sweden). More information at http://www.eurid.eu.  

For media information, please contact:
Kate Warwick, Just PR  Phone: +44 (0) 78 1069 7282  Email: kate.warwick@justpr.co.uk
Brigitte Lagrou, Communications Manager   Phone: +32 (0)2 401 27 93
Catherine Dowdell, PR Officer   Phone: +46 (0)8 5063 74 12  
Email: press@eurid.eu     Press room: http://www.eurid.eu/en/press-room