This is indeed an exciting time for the internet because it is now an open market and it is thanks to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), global regulatory body.
It is goodbye to the excruciating pains of getting an Internet domain name, that is, the letters which follow the final dot of any domain name for the estimated 1.4 billion users of the Internet
In effect, it means that from now just anything, anywhere including even individuals and commodities can now apply for and get a top level domain name.
Rising from its 32nd International Public Meeting in Paris, France recently after four days of discussions that will shape the future of the Internet, ICANN announced a full liberalisation of the Internet in order to make it available, accessible to many more people.
It will be a free for all from now. There will be no language or cultural barriers again.
Registration by such domain names will attract a fee of $100,000.
Scripts other than Latin which were not originally permitted on the Internet could now make free inroads into the information superhighway.
These languages include, but not limited to, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and Cyrillic.
If this sails through, the Internet will now be more accessible to people in the Middle East and Asia and even possibly Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
Before this announcement, Internet addresses ending with dot.com, dot.uk, dot.org were restricted by ICANN, the international not-for-profit body set up in 1998 to regulate assignment of names and numbers.
ICANN is believed to be doing this not necessarily because there were no more names but because it wants to open up the sector and increase consumer choice.
Most web addresses in Britain end with dot.uk while France and Germany end with dot.fr and dot.de. Now the possibilities are endless, as the new names could range from places to commodities.
The most popular domain name in the world today is dot.com and there are at least 20 other possibilities such as dot.org or dot.net.
Though these measures are welcome, ICANN should also work on access to the Internet especially in developing countries in Africa.
