ICANN approves HKIRC request for Chinese equivalent of .hk domain

The Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Ltd (HKIRC) initiated the establishment of the Chinese .hk domain in 2006, and finally submitted the request for approval on 16 November 2009.

Current .hk domain users will have priority in registering for the Chinese (in both simplified and traditional Chinese formats) domain name free of charge in the pre-registration period one to two months before the official launch.

The HKIRC said new registers can apply for both the English and Chinese domain names for the price of one.

HKIRC reports that Hong Kong has an online population of 4.3 million, with an internet penetration of 69.4 per cent. Mainland China also furthers the decision as 75 per cent of web users there use the Chinese language to surf the internet.

"This not only helps them name their websites with full Chinese domain names to expand their business, but also eliminates the language barrier by using the easy-to-remember and easy-to-understand Chinese domain names." said Jonathan Shea, CEO at HKIRC.

The corporation is expecting at least 37,000 .hk registrations to apply for the Chinese equivalent in the pre-registration period.