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2010 French Domain name Industry Report

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The 2010 French Domain Name Industry Report presents a detailed analysis of the .fr domain landscape, highlighting significant growth in registrations, reaching nearly 1.8 million with a 21% annual increase. The report emphasizes the concentration of domain holders primarily among private individuals and the ongoing consolidation among registrars, with the average price for domain registrations remaining stable at €12 per year. Furthermore, the secondary market for .fr domains is expanding, indicating a growing investment interest in French domains despite generally lower usage compared to other European countries.

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2010 French Domain Name Industry Report AFNIC - Télécom SudParis
2010 French Domain name Industry Report
French Domain Name Industry Report 2010 Issue
Overview Introduction ................................................................................................................. 6 The purpose of a French Domain Name Industry Report ................................................... 6 Executive summary .................................................................................................... 7 Growth well above the average rate for Top Level Domains ............................................ 7 A steadily growing pool of names ....................................................................................... 8 Young urban registrants ........................................................................................................ 9 On-going market concentration ......................................................................................... 9 A zone secured by DNSSEC and anycast ............................................................................ 10 Professional web uses and e-mail addresses for private individuals................................ 11 Expected changes in France and worldwide ..................................................................... 12 Part One: Background ............................................................................................... 13 Chapter 1: The Internet in France ......................................................................................... 13 Internet users increasingly numerous and better equipped ..................................................................13 International comparisons ....................................................................................................................15 Chapter 2: Domain names worldwide ................................................................................. 16 Use of domain names in the world .......................................................................................................16 Geographical distribution of domain names .........................................................................................19 Chapter 3: Domain names in France ................................................................................... 20 Market share for Top Level Domains in France ....................................................................................20 Part Two: .fr domain names ...................................................................................... 22 Chapter 4: Number of .fr domain names ............................................................................ 22 Number of .fr domain names ..............................................................................................................22 Private individuals and legal entities .....................................................................................................23 Renewal of .fr domain names ..............................................................................................................24 Chapter 5: Number of .fr domain names per holder ......................................................... 25 Private individuals ...............................................................................................................................25 Legal entities ........................................................................................................................................26 Chapter 6: Lexicographical structure of .fr domain names ............................................. 27 Length of .fr domain names .................................................................................................................27 Hyphens and numbers in .fr domain names ........................................................................................28 Terms used in .fr domain names ..........................................................................................................28 Combinations registered as .fr domain names .....................................................................................30 Searches using various lists of terms ......................................................................................................30 French words registered as .fr domain names ........................................................................................30 Names of French municipalities registered as .fr domain names ...........................................................31 Business names and trademarks registered as .fr domain names ...........................................................32 -2-
Part Three: Holders ...................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 7: The location of private registrants of .fr domain names ................................. 34 Opening remarks..................................................................................................................................34 Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals .............................................................35 Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants ...........................36 Growth rate over one year ....................................................................................................................39 Chapter 8: The location of legal entities registrants of .fr domain names ....................... 41 Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities.......................................................................41 Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies .....................................43 Growth rate over one year ....................................................................................................................46 Chapter 9: Location of private individual and legal entities holding .fr domain names ....................................................................................................................... 48 Total number of .fr domain names (private individuals and legal entities). ...........................................48 Chapter 10: Ages of individual holders of .fr domain names. .......................................... 51 Age pyramid of individual holders of .fr domain names .......................................................................51 Changes in the ages of individual holders of .fr domain names .............................................................53 Part Four: Registrars .................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 11: Registrars of .fr domain names........................................................................ 54 Number of registrars of .fr domain names ............................................................................................54 Location of registrars of .fr domain names............................................................................................55 Chapter 12: Services and prices offered by registrars ....................................................... 59 Services offered by registrars .................................................................................................................59 Registrars’ charges.................................................................................................................................60 Chapter 13: Analysis of the registrar market ....................................................................... 62 Market for registrars of .fr domain names .............................................................................................62 Changes in the market for registrars of .fr domain names .....................................................................67 Catchment areas of registrars of .fr domain names ...............................................................................69 The market for ICANN-accredited registrars ........................................................................................72 Registrars that are both ICANN-accredited and .fr providers ...............................................................76 Chapter 14: Analysis of the secondary market ................................................................... 77 The secondary domain name market worldwide (DN Journal) ............................................................77 The secondary domain name market worldwide (Sedo) ........................................................................79 Secondary market for .fr domain names (Sedo) ....................................................................................82 Part Five: Technologies .............................................................................................. 84 Chapter 15: DNS Servers ........................................................................................................ 84 Number of DNS servers per .fr domain name ......................................................................................84 Number of .fr domain names per DNS server ......................................................................................84 Requests received by authoritative DNS servers managed by AFNIC ...................................................85 Chapter 16: Using IPv6 addresses......................................................................................... 87 Procedure used in searching for IPv6 addresses .....................................................................................87 IPv6-compatible .fr domain names .....................................................................................................87 International comparisons ....................................................................................................................89 -3-
Part Six: Uses................................................................................................................ 90 Chapter 17: Use of .fr domain names on the Web ............................................................. 90 Responses from web servers associated with .fr domain names .............................................................90 Types of website associated with .fr domain names ...............................................................................92 Chapter 18: Perception of .fr domain names ..................................................................... 95 Perception of the .fr domain.................................................................................................................95 Values associated with the .fr domain ...................................................................................................97 Expectations associated with acquiring .fr domain names .....................................................................98 Acquisition of .fr domain names ..........................................................................................................99 Use of .fr domain names ......................................................................................................................100 Chapter 19: Disputes over domain names in France ......................................................... 101 Disputes over .fr domain names ...........................................................................................................101 UDRP disputes handled by WIPO ......................................................................................................104 Part Seven: Conclusions ............................................................................................ 108 Chapter 20: Market trends and prospects ........................................................................... 108 Review of the year ................................................................................................................................108 Outlooks ..............................................................................................................................................109 About AFNIC ............................................................................................................... 113 Contents ...................................................................................................................... 114 List of tables ................................................................................................................. 117 List of figures ................................................................................................................ 118 List of notes .................................................................................................................. 120 Glossary ....................................................................................................................... 122 -4-
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Introduction This document is the 2010 issue of the French Domain Name Industry Report. It was drafted in September 2010. The statistics presented were obtained using various sources, including the retrieval of non-confidential information from the AFNIC database, public information sites, opinion polls, etc. AFNIC would like to thank all those who provided information useful for drafting this report. This study was conducted as part of a research contract between AFNIC and Télécom SudParis, from July to September 2010. Information obtained thereafter was not taken into account in this version of the report. The purpose of a French Domain Name Industry Report There are various services providing information about domain names, but they have a global, general vision, without access to the specific data of registries, without seeking in-depth analysis of the various markets. Since 2007, AFNIC has undertaken the initiative of establishing an annual industry report on French domain names, to be of benefit to market participants, as well as to the government and Internet development agencies in France. The overall aims of this industry report are to: • Provide a reliable reflection of the market and its players, • Provide the keys for analysing the factors shaping the market and its trends, • Help promote understanding and recognition among the private and public sectors of this market and its specific characteristics, • Identify the market’s strengths and weaknesses and make recommendations to the registries and / or registrars. The aim is to produce a paper to be presented to the government and distributed to Internet stakeholders and the general public. -6-
Executive summary Salient facts about the .fr domain for 2009-2010 Official designation of AFNIC as the Registry for the .fr country-code Top Level Domain in March 2010 Opening of .fr to the French citizens living abroad in March 2010 Nearly 1.8 million domain names registered by the summer of 2010 21% annual growth for the .fr TLD, or 10 points more than the average for other TLDs 38% of .fr domain names registered by private individuals Median end-user price of € 12 exc. VAT/year, in line with the other Top Level Domains Continuation of the market consolidation of domain name registrars High growth on the .fr secondary market, with the highest average prices such as “credit.fr” sold for € 600,000 Signature of the .fr root with DNSSEC in September 2010 Nearly one in every two names refers to a professional website, far in front of personal websites A marked preference among people in France for the .fr TLD Growth well above the average rate for Top Level Domains ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• After a sharp slowdown in the global growth of domain names in 2009, the situation seems to have stabilised this year: all the Top Level Domains outside China have returned to double-digit growth (10% year over year in June 2010). If the .cn ccTLD is an exception in losing 40% of its portfolio of names, it is due to the new highly restrictive registration requirements established by the Chinese registry and not to the general economic situation. The growth has not resumed the cruising speed it posted up until 2008 of some 20% per year. Country-code Top Level Domains continue to thrive a little better than generic TLDs, and the .fr in particular, which, with 21% annual growth rate, retains a lead of 10 points over the average rates for other domains. Since being opened to private individuals in June 2006, the French ccTLD is expanding at a rate of approximately 300,000 names a year and is now close to 1.8 million domain names. It currently represents one third of all the domain names registered in France, behind the .com TLD, which has started to grow again on the domestic market after a pause last year. The .com also largely dominates the world market for domain names with more than 85 million names registered. It is followed by the .de, .net and .uk Top Level Domains, Germany and the United Kingdom having quickly liberalised the registration requirements applicable to their respective national domains. In terms of domain names per capita the .fr TLD still lags behind its European counterparts, which also indicates that the French domain continues to enjoy an undeniable potential for growth. -7-
Markets for ccTLDs are closely linked to the rate with which households and businesses equip themselves with Internet access. Two thirds of the people in France now have Internet access at home, mainly based on broadband ADSL technology. Uses based on mobile Internet are also booming: if 30% of mobile phone users now use 3G services, the growth in mobile telephony is largely being driven by non-voice SIM cards (exclusive Internet cards for computers or cards for communicating objects). As far as businesses are concerned, France remains in the forefront of European countries in terms of broadband equipment rates, but still stands in the last quarter of the rankings for setting up websites, the sign of a recurrent lack of awareness among French companies about Internet communication tools compared with their counterparts. The relatively under-developed footprint of French companies on the Web can no doubt be correlated with the lesser use of domain names in France in relation to other countries that are comparable in economic terms. For instance, only 2.6% of the generic domain names worldwide are held by French companies, although this figure has been steadily increasing for the last three years. A steadily growing pool of names ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• In one of every two cases, the registration of new .fr domain names in 2010 was carried out individual persons, such that at present 38% of all the .fr domain names have been registered by private individuals. Standing at around 80%, the turnover rate of .fr domain names is still very high in relation to comparable Top Level Domains. Most of the .fr registrants only have a single domain name under this TLD, whether it concerns private individuals or legal entities. Some 7,000 people, however, and 18,000 companies possess more than five domain names each. Among them, some even have very large portfolios of domain names, in the order of several thousand: they are mostly domainers, present on the secondary market for .fr domain names. Lexicographic analysis of all the .fr domain names that have been registered shows a steady increase in the various indicators observed. The average length of names is growing by 0.4 characters every year and this year stood at 12.4. The average number of dashes in names is also increasing: the overall growth of the zone encourages users to choose names that are increasingly longer by making greater use of separators. The term “paris” and “restaurant” have increased their frequency of occurrence in domain names, as well as the years for future French elections (2012, 2016). Furthermore, 85% of the most commonly used French words are stored as an .fr domain name, as well as 93% of the principal family names, three-quarters of all French first names, 95% of the names of towns with more than 1,000 inhabitants, and 80% of the 1,000 top French companies. -8-
Young urban registrants ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The .fr Top Level Domain has been open to French citizens living abroad since March 2010. If only 0.1% of the names submitted by private individuals were located abroad at the time of the study, Belgium and Switzerland already stand out among the countries in which holders are located. As for domain names registered by companies, 1.9% of them are located outside France, and this time Germany is well ahead, apparently largely due to one domainer. In France, there is still a high concentration of names in the most economically active departments, primarily Paris and the Hauts-de-Seine. Some departments, however, have growth well above average, such as the Haute-Saone for private individuals, or Reunion Island for businesses. The number of domain names held per entity this year stands at 7.6 names per 1,000 inhabitants and 260 domain names for 1,000 companies. The mean age of individual holders has increased by 5 months since 2009, and now stands at 36 years of age. This development, however, is linked to the natural aging of the population and not to a greater awareness of the older age groups: if the demographic factor is excluded, the development would be the opposite, and the mean age would drop 7 months. In fact, it is the 19-30 year-old age group which has increased the most in the past year. On-going market concentration ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• With a decline in the number of registrars of 8% in 2010 as the year before, the restructuring of the market is continuing: there are now approximately 800 providers of .fr domain names. Registrars are still predominantly located in large cities, while 13 departments have none. On the other hand, almost 15% of them are located outside France, mainly in Europe. This figure is also liable to increase with the future opening of the French ccTLD to the European Union. A study of the offers made by the top 30 registrars of .fr domain names shows a very wide scale of rates (from € 5 to € 160 plus VAT). The differences are justified by the market segments targeted by each provider (for private individuals or the corporate sector), and any additional services included in the basic package. The rates have changed in various ways over the year, some increasing and others decreasing, such that the mean price has remained stable this year at € 12 plus VAT, as in 2009. It is also worth noting that the most common TLDs are now available at the same rate (generic, .eu, and .fr). The market for .fr domain name registrars continued to concentrate in 2010, but remains classified as moderately concentrated. As last year, the concentration primarily benefits the market leader at the expense of the following actors. This trend can also be observed on each of the individual holder and corporate markets separately, but the individual holder market switched to the concentrated category last year, while the corporate market for the time being continues to retain its non-concentrated status. A study of the catchment areas indicates that a small proportion of providers (about 15% on the individual holder market and 6% on the corporate market) have a local clientele limited to a few departments, while 30 to 40% of them cover virtually all of mainland France. -9-
The global market for ICANN accredited registrars is also undergoing concentration: its status rose from non-concentrated to moderately concentrated in 2010. As for the .fr TLD, it is the market leader which has benefitted the most: Go Daddy, whose market share now reaches 30%. In addition, out of almost a thousand accredited providers, over half are located in the United States, against only 1.6% in France. The leading French registrar passed the one million registered generic domain names in 2010. The number of registrars present on both the generic TLDs as ICANN accredited providers and on the .fr TLD has also increased 8% in one year. The secondary market for domain names continues to grow, but more moderately than in the past. While the French domain currently represents only 1% of the names exchanged, it has grown rapidly in recent years (over 30% in 2009). It also remains the most expensive TLD, even though the average price of all TLDs suffered a slight decline. The mean price for .fr domain names stood at around € 650 in the first half of 2010. It seems that the domainers have now identified the French market as full of opportunities and have begun to massively invest in it. Extreme prices also resumed their growth in 2010, the world record being for “slots.com”, which traded for $ 5.5 million while the top domain name among French TLD “credit.fr” was sold for about € 600,000. As always, names related to finance and online games are on the rise. A zone secured by DNSSEC and anycast ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• An analysis of the supervision statistics of authoritative DNS servers managed by AFNIC indicates that the average number of requests received increased by 40% between early 2008 and the summer of 2010. The percentage of requests sent using IPv6 is experiencing a slight increase but still remains low (1.2%). The deployment of IPv6 seems equally modest at present in terms of servers: while 6% of the DNS servers for .fr domain names are IPv6-compatible, the ratio is only 1% for web servers and even less for e-mail servers. These figures raise some concerns with regard to the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses forecast for 2012, but a possible deployment by the major registrars on the market could make the ratios change very rapidly. In terms of security, several significant changes were made to the .fr TLD. After the DNS root in July, that of the French domain was signed with the DNSSEC protocol in September 2010, which should ultimately protect users against cache poisoning attacks. The managers of the DNS servers of registrars and ISPs are now required to implement DNSSEC in turn to fully exploit the benefits of this technology. In addition, AFNIC also deployed its own anycast cloud in 2010, making it possible to distribute the DNS service even further on the .fr zone, using a series of physical servers distributed worldwide. - 10 -
Professional web uses and e-mail addresses for private individuals ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• In 2010, 62% of the web servers associated with .fr domain names replied with a success message and 23% with a redirect to another site, such that 85% of the domain names in the zone led to an effective site. This high figure reflects the high utilisation rate of the TLD, which seems much less subject to purely defensive registration strategies than others. If redirect cases have increased significantly over the past year (+6 points), this development is primarily due to a change in the configuration of a major registrar, which refers to a holding page by default more systematically. An analysis of a random sample of 1,000 .fr domain names shows that nearly half of them lead to a professional website, far ahead of personal sites (3%). Just over a quarter of the domains were associated with a holding page or sponsored links. The low proportion of websites for personal use may indicate that private individuals use their domain name more to create customised e-mail addresses than to communicate on the Web. Opinion surveys conducted by AFNIC indicate a strong preference of people in France for the .fr domain: it evokes an attachment to France for 78% of the respondents, and 76% of them spontaneously seek the site of a French company. In addition, more than one in two believes that the prospects for development of .fr in the medium to long term are quite good. As last year, the values associated with the ccTLD remain that of speaking the French language, being a member of the community and closeness, and the price is always the main criterion for taking the decision to acquire a domain name or in choosing a provider. Finally, the main use of names seems to be to create customised e-mail addresses, ancillary services related to privacy and security receiving general acclaim. In terms of resolution of disputes, the PREDEC procedure (resolving cases of obvious violations of the provisions of the Decree of 6 February 2007) has been used consistently since its inception in July 2008, with 6 procedures on average per month, most of them concerning intellectual property rights. It rounds out a useful set of procedures for handling disputes that is already available for the French country-code Top Level Domain. At the same time, the number of .fr domain names involved in UDRP proceedings at WIPO per 100,000 was divided by three between 2008 and 2009, the French domain falling behind .com as a result: the decline could be a consequence of the success of the PREDEC procedure. In all the cases of disputes for all TLDs combined, France represents 11% of the claimants and 3% of the defendants: it would seem that French firms are more often victims than perpetrators of acts such as cybersquatting, and that they tend to initiate court proceedings after the event rather than pursue defensive registration policies beforehand. - 11 -
Expected changes in France and worldwide ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The French Minister of Industry formally designated as AFNIC as the Registry for the .fr country-code Top Level Domain in March 2010 for a period of seven years. This decision was accompanied by a contractual framework detailing several structural changes for the domain, in terms of relaxing the conditions for registration, the legibility of offerings to end users, contributions to R&D and security. After opening the .fr to French citizens living abroad in March 2010, another major change in the Naming Charter for the TLD should follow its opening to the European Union from late 2011 onwards, this development being liable to eventually cause significant changes in the structure of the registrar market. A Quality of Service Report for registrars will be established in early 2011, thus meeting the requirements of transparency in offers, as well as a certification to validate the expertise of providers. In terms of security, the implementation of DNSSEC in the root servers of the .fr zone should be followed by awareness campaigns and training courses for managers of DNS servers, who will need to integrate the security protocol in their own infrastructure. Globally, the process of creating new Internet Top Level Domains initiated by ICANN two years ago should come to fruition in 2011. Besides the internationalised domains already validated and in the course of implementation for countries using non-Latin characters (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Russia, etc.), 200 new TLDs have been proposed to represent a city, a region, a community or a company. This is the case for the proposed .paris TLD, for which AFNIC should be the technical partner in the light of its experience in managing the .fr. On 6 October 2010, the Constitutional Council declared section L. 45 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code unconstitutional, urging the legislature to review the text in order to take into account the freedom of expression and enterprise. A number of policy options specified at the regulatory level by the decree of 6 February 2007 should also be incorporated into the new legislation. Neither the designation of AFNIC nor its specific scope of action were referred to by the Constitutional Council, which bases its decision on the fundamental principles of French law. 1 July 2011 was set as the date from which the current Article L. 45 will be repealed. It is therefore now up to the legislature to rebuild the legal framework for domain names in France, under extremely tight deadlines. In this respect, 2011 will be a particularly crucial year for AFNIC, which nourishes the hope that future decisions will maintain the gains of the current framework and enhance it in order to reflect the decision of the Constitutional Council. - 12 -
Part One: Background Chapter 1 The Internet in France ● Data source: CREDOC, ARCEP, CGIET, Médiamétrie, Eurostat. This chapter presents an overview of Internet use in France, including the rate with which people in France are being equipped for Internet access, number of users, number of Internet subscriptions and international comparisons. Internet users increasingly numerous and better equipped ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The rate with which people in France have become equipped with computers and Internet access has seen regular growth for many years1. In 2009, three out of every four persons in France had a computer and two thirds had Internet access at home. The proportion of private individuals equipped with a computer without Internet access has significantly dropped from year to year (from 17% in 2003 to 7% in 2009). The number of Internet users in France is also constantly progressing: according to Médiamétrie, 37.5 million people aged 11 or older were connected to the Internet in July 2010, i.e. 7 out of 10 people in France. The total number of Internet subscriptions in France was 20.7 million in the first quarter of 2010 according to ARCEP2. An overwhelming majority use broadband technology (95%), mainly ADSL. If the annual growth rate of broadband access remains high (9% in the second quarter of 2010), it has gradually slowed down since late 2006. Broadband access now stands at 365,000 subscriptions, of which only 90,000 are Fibre To The Home (FTTH), which is struggling to take off commercially. The installed base of mobile phones is now approaching 96% of the population, with strong growth in Internet usage: 39% of callers use multimedia services (WAP, i-mode, MMS, E-mail) and 29% of callers use 3G services. If growth in the installed base of mobile phones remains strong (around 5% a year), half of that growth is currently linked to non-voice SIM cards, a market segment that has been booming since last year with an annual growth rate of more than 80% in Internet-only cards (PCMCIA cards, 3G/3G + Internet keys) and SIM cards for communicating objects (“machine to machine” cards). - 13 -
Internet statistics in France in 2010 (according to the CREDOC, Médiamétrie / GfK and ARCEP) Change over Indicator Value one year Equipment at home Computer equipment 74% of the population in 2009 +5 points Internet access equipment 17.8 million, or 65.6% of households in Q2-2010 +8.1% Internet users Internet users 37.5 million, i.e. 70.0% of the population in July 2010 +13.3% Broadband Internet users 33.8 million, or 96.9% of home Internet users in July 2010 +17.9% Internet subscriptions Internet access 20.7 million in Q1-2010 +7.8% ADSL Internet access 20 million in Q2-2010 +8.2% DSL Internet access 0.37 million in Q2-2010 +60.8% Dial-up Internet access 0.6 million in Q1-2010 -27.1% Mobile phones Mobile phone installed base 61.9 million, or 95.8% of the population in Q2-2010 +4.6% Active installed base of mobile 24 million, or 39% of the mobile phone installed base in Q1-2010 +23.1% multimedia users Active installed base of 3G users 17.6 million, or 29% of the mobile phone installed base in Q1-2010 +35.3% Internet-only SIM cards 2.2 million in Q1-2010 +85.6% SIM cards for communicating 1.8 million in Q1-2010 +82.8% objects Table 1 – Internet statistics for France in 2010 - 14 -
International comparisons ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• According to Eurostat3, in 2009 France ranked average in the European rate for households equipping themselves with broadband access (57%) while it exceeded this average by 7 percentage points one year earlier: the other European countries have in fact continued to expand their broadband infrastructure for private individuals over one year while growth stagnated in France. France, however, remains well above the European average for the rate of corporate investments in broadband (92% against 82%), and these already very high figures have changed little over one year (1 to 2 percentage points of growth). The situation, however, is still the opposite with regard to the installation of websites by French companies: only 54% of them had a website in 2009 against 64% for the European average: as a result, France ranks in the last quarter of the European Union on this criterion. This poor position should be correlated with the lower use of domain names in France in relation to comparable countries in economic terms. European companies with a website or a homepage in 2009 (according to Eurostat) 100% 88% 90% 86% 85% 84% 80% 79% Percentage of firms (10 employees or more) 80% 77% 75% 75% 73% 70% 69% 68% 68% 70% 65% EU average: 64% 62% 62% 61% 59% 60% 57% 57% 56% 54% 51% 49% 50% 47% 42% 40% 34% 28% 30% 20% 10% 0% Sw rk Be y ze ing y g en N m er ia Fr n ta xe nia nd H ce ia C ly Ir e e Sl kia E ia m Po s C y l Bu ia h e nd Au s th d R ria Po a lic a ga an a ru ur r nd ai ec n i ni Ita r an en tv a at iu al ga do ub w an ed la st N inla la a a Sp m Lu sto rtu ua yp bo m La lg M re ro r la lg or ov om ov un ep en G m F Sl R D G K Li et ch d te ni C U Country Figure 1 – Setting up of websites by European companies - 15 -
Chapter 2 Domain names worldwide ● Data source: AFNIC, CIA World Factbook, Dot and Co, CENTR, WebHosting.Info, Internet Systems Consortium, Security Space. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistical data on the use of domain names around the world (including all Top Level Domains). Use of domain names in the world • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The generic TLD .com is still very high on the list with more than 85 million domain names registered. Far behind, two domains exceed 10 million names: .de (Germany) and .net (generic). Growth in the Chinese ccTLD .cn, which had overtaken .net and then .de over the previous two years, becoming the second Top Level Domain worldwide, has fallen sharply due to the introduction of highly restrictive registration requirements by the CNNIC registry and a systematic campaign of compliance. It has lost 4 places in the rankings with less than 8 million domains against 13 million in June 2009. The French domain occupies the 15th place in the rankings with nearly 1.8 million names. Since the rankings last year, it has overtaken the American .us, but has since been overtaken by the Polish .pl. Number of registered domain names in June 2010 per Top Level Domain (based on the AFNIC study of 50 of the main TLDs worldwide) .de (Germany); 13,700,000 .com; 85,422,000 .net; 12,820,000 .uk (UK); 8,588,000 .org; 8,220,000 .cn (China); 7,600,000 .info; 6,141,000 .nl (Netherlands); 3,900,000 Top Level Domain .eu (European Union); 3,210,000 .ru (Russia); 2,883,000 .br (Brazil); 2,140,000 .biz; 2,025,000 .it (Italy); 1,900,000 .pl (Poland); 1,858,000 .fr (France); 1,769,000 .us (USA); 1,715,000 .ch (Switzerland); 1,455,000 .ca (Canada); 1,427,000 .es (Spain); 1,197,000 .jp (Japan); 1,171,000 0 10,000,000 20,000,000 30,000,000 40,000,000 50,000,000 60,000,000 70,000,000 80,000,000 90,000,000 Number of domain names Figure 2 – Number of domain names per Top Level Domain - 16 -
In terms of growth, the Montenegrin TLD .me has the fastest rate (54%): it is marketed by a consortium of foreign operators as a “marketed” domain destined for personal content. It is followed by the Russian (.ru) and Mexican (.mx) ccTLDs with annual growth rates of around 33%. The French domain remains well positioned with a 21% annual growth rate, well above the average for the top 50 global Top Level Domains studied (8%). In fact, overall growth continues to be driven by national domains rather than generics (12% against 6%). Annual growth has slowed from one to two points for all of the TLDs except China since 2009. Growth over one year in the numbers of registered domain names in June 2010 per Top Level Domain (based on the AFNIC study of 50 of the main TLDs worldwide) .ru (Russia); 33% .me (Montenegro); 54% .mx (Mexico); 33% .pl (Poland); 29% .br (Brazil); 24% .cz (Czech Republic); 21% .fr (France); 21% Top Level Domain .si (Slovenia); 21% .hu (Hungary); 19% .rs (Serbia); 18% .info; 17% .lu (Luxembourg); 17% Average growth rates .ca (Canada); 16% for the 50 main TLDs (excluding .cn): .sk (Slovakia); 16% .is (Iceland); 14% +8% over one year (against 9% last year) .cl (Chile); 14% .ie (Ireland); 14% +6% on gTLDs (stable) .tr (Turkey); 14% +12% on ccTLDs (14% last year) .ch (Switzerland); 14% .fi (Finland); 13% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Growth rate over one year (June 2009 - June 2010) Figure 3 – Annual growth in the number of domain names per Top Level Domain In terms of the number of domain names registered per capita, the .fr is now in the middle of the 50 TLDs studied with 2.7 names per 100 inhabitants, a ratio which has more than doubled in three years (1.2 in 2007). The Montenegrin domain .me remains well ahead due to its market positioning which places it more among the gTLDs rather than national. These are followed by the Dutch (.nl), Danish (.dk) Switzerland (.ch) and German (.de) domains with more than 15 names per 100 inhabitants. It is worth noting that the number of domain names per capita is not necessarily representative of the actual use of a national domain by the citizens of the country concerned. This because part of the domain names are registered by companies and not private individuals. On the other hand, in the case of TLDs without territorial conditions, some of the names are registered by persons outside the country (the most blatant case being the Montenegrin domain, which is mostly registered by people in England). The ratio of the “number of domains per capita” therefore seems to be largely related to the level of opening of each TLD and must be carefully analysed. The .fr currently maintains a territorial condition: domain names are reserved for French residents and legal entities, French citizens living abroad, and holders of registered trademarks covering France. - 17 -
Most of the major gTLDs are experiencing growth rates of between 6% and 9% year on year4. The .info stands out from the rest (+ 17%), while the .biz is treading water. The development in the normalised number of domain names in the major Top Level Domains since 2007 shows that the French domain has progressed significantly faster than the average TLDs studied, both national and generic, and with considerable stability over time. Its growth rate has reached 21% over the past three years, against an average of 12% for national TLDs outside China, and 10% for all TLDs apart from China over the same period. The Russian and Polish ccTLDs and the .info gTLD are experiencing the highest growth rates over the past 3 years, while the Chinese .cn has lost more than 40% of its portfolio of names. Change in the normalised number of domain names per Top Level Domain type since 2007 (Base 100 in April 2007, according to the CENTR and Dot and Co, a study of 25 of the major TLDs worldwide) 220 .fr Change over one year (June 2009 - June 2010): 200 .fr: +21% Total nb of ccTLDs (excl. .cn): +12% Total nb of gTLDs : +9% Normalised number of domain names 180 Total (excl. .cn): +10% (base 100 in April 2007) 160 Total nb of geographic domain names (excl. .cn) 140 l. .cn) Total (exc 120 Total nb of generic domain names 100 8 8 8 0 8 9 9 8 8 9 9 9 7 7 7 9 7 0 0 7 -0 -0 -0 -0 -1 -0 -0 -0 r-0 -0 -0 -0 r-0 r-0 -0 -0 -0 -1 r-1 -0 ne st ct ne ne br st ec ct ne br ec st ec br ct Ap Ap Ap Ap gu O gu O gu Fe O Fe Ju Fe D Ju Ju D D Ju Au Au Au Months Figure 4 – Development in the normalised number of domain names per type of Top Level Domain Year on year, the growth rate for all the Top Level Domains has been declining for several years, reflecting the current economic crisis. The growth in the .fr domain, however, has remained 10 points or more above the average for national and generic TLDs. The slight acceleration in growth forecast in generic domains for spring 2011 could be linked to the promotional campaign for registrars launched by the VeriSign registry to celebrate the 25th anniversary of .com. - 18 -
Geographical distribution of domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The WebHosting.info site5 presents estimates for the geographical distribution of generic domain names worldwide. Nearly two-thirds of all domain names have been registered in the United States, followed by Germany, the United Kingdom, China and Canada. The proportion of generic domain names registered in France is 2.6%, and has been growing for the past 3 years (2.2% in 2007). China has overtaken Canada in the ranking this year, which suggests that if the conditions of access to the national domain .cn become highly restrictive, Chinese individuals or companies will continue to widely invest in generic TLDs. Distributon of generic domain names .com /.net /.org /.info /.biz per country of registration in August 2010 (according to WebHosting.Info) Other countries; 9.2% Number of generic domains: Hong Kong; 1.1% 112 million, Italy; 1.2% up 7.1% YOY Spain; 1.2% (against 4.1% last year) Japan; 1.7% Australia; 2.2% France; 2.6% Canada; 3.3% China; 3.7% UK; 3.8% USA; 64.4% (-0,9 point) Germany; 5.5% Figure 5 – Distribution of generic domain names per country - 19 -
Chapter 3 Domain names in France ● Data source: ZookNIC, AFNIC. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistical evidence on market share for Top Level Domains for domain names registered in France (.fr and generic TLDs), as well as market share in France in relation to the all generic domain names registered worldwide. Market share for Top Level Domains in France • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The diagram below shows the breakdown between the main TLDs of domain names registered in France in July 2010. The domains most commonly used in France are the .com (43% of names) and the .fr (a third of names), the other coming far behind. The dynamic for one year is positive for the .com (+ 0.9 point) and to a lesser extent for the French ccTLD (+ 0.6) and .net (+ 0.2); it is zero or negative for the other domain. Distribution between the main Top Level Domains registered in France in July 2010 (according to ZookNIC and AFNIC) .biz ; 1.6% (-0.1 over one year) .info ; 2.7% (-0.8 over one year) .mobi ; 0,4% (stable) .eu ; 5.4% (-0.3over one year) .org ; 6.0% (-0.4 over one year) .net ; 7.4% (+0.2 over one year) .com ; 42.9% (+0.9 over one year) .fr ; 33.5% (+0.6 over one year) Figure 6 – Breakdown of domain names registered in France - 20 -
The .com resumed its growth on the French market after a marked pause between July 2008 and July 2009, while the .fr is growing much more regularly over time. Over one year, the domains .fr, .com and .net are experiencing growth of around 21-22%, while .org, .biz, .eu, and .mobi are underperforming at around 12% and .info suffered a net loss in the number of domain names (- 7%). Overall, the French market grew by 19%, including all Top Level Domains. The .fr has gradually gained market share in France compared with the major generic domains, after a low point in 2000. At present, this dynamic seems to be slowing down to stabilise around 34%. Since relinquishing the right to name in May 2004, the .fr has always been placed before the .com, .net, .org, and .eu TLDs in terms of growth rates year on year, except for a short period of few months. - 21 -
Part Two: .fr domain names Chapter 4 Number of .fr domain names ● Data source: AFNIC The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistical data on the registration of .fr domain names: the development in the number of registered names, the distribution between private individuals and legal entities, and the operations carried out (creations and deletions of names, name renewal rates). Number of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The growth curve for the total number of .fr domains clearly shows the impact of successive changes in the Naming Charter (removal of right to the name in May 2004 and opening to private individuals in June 2006). The momentum increased from 30,000 new names a year in the early 2000s, to 300,000 new names per year in 2010. On 1 July 2010, there were 1,762,704 .fr domain names registered in the AFNIC database. Growth over one year is slightly down: it hovered around 21% this year against 25% last year. These domain names are overwhelmingly registered directly under the .fr ccTLD, while about only 1% of them are registered in a sub-domain of level 2. In addition, all the sub-domains have regressed or stagnated over one year (-4%), with the exception of .gouv.fr (reserved for the French government), which continued to increase (+32%). It is worth noting that these figures only take into account the sub-domains directly managed by AFNIC, not the sector-based sub-domains delegated to other administrative authorities6. Changes in number of .fr domain names since 2000 (directly under the .fr Top Level Domain or a sub-domain managed by AFNIC) 2,000,000 Relinquishing the right Opening of .fr to name on .fr to private individuals 1,800,000 1,600,000 + 300,000 domain names / year 1,400,000 Number of domain names 1,200,000 1,000,000 + 120,000 800,000 domain names / year 600,000 + 30,000 domain names / year 400,000 200,000 0 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 ly ly ly ly ly ly ly ly ly ly ly n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Months Figure 7 – Growth in the total number of .fr domain names - 22 -
Private individuals and legal entities • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The .fr domain names can be registered both by natural persons (private individuals) and legal entities (companies, associations, government agencies, etc.). Until June 2006, private individuals only could only register .fr domain names in sub-domains (nom.fr and com.fr); they can now file names directly under the national domain. The distribution between the two types of holders shows that a majority of them are still legal entities: in the first half of 2010, 62% of the domain names were registered by corporate bodies as against 38% by private individuals. In one year, the percentage held by individuals has nonetheless gained more than 2.5 points. The proportion of registrations made by individuals has also increased steadily: since opening in 2006 to private individuals, in half of the cases the registration of new names is performed by individuals (51% on average during the first half 2010). The mechanism with which the proportion of individuals has caught up seems to converge towards an asymptote at around 40%. Percentage of .fr domain names registered by private individuals since 2007 (cumulative number of new names and creations) 70% Creation of new .fr domain names 60% 50% registered by private individuals Percentage of .fr domain names 40% Cumulative number of .fr domain names 30% 20% Annual average (July 2009 - June 2010): private individuals hold 38% of .fr domain names and create 50.7% of new domain names 10% 0% 9 10 0 7 8 10 08 09 07 08 09 9 07 7 8 9 09 7 8 7 8 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 2 2 r. ne st st ne ne ne st ec r. r. r. br br br br ct ct ct ec ec Ap gu gu Ap Ap Ap gu Ju Fe Ju Fe Ju Ju Fe O O O D Fe D D Au Au Au Months Figure 8 – Percentage of .fr domain names registered by private individuals - 23 -
Renewal of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The renewal rate represents the proportion of domain names that are renewed by their holders when they expire. For the .fr , this turnover rate is currently around 80%: this figure is very high compared with other TLDs, despite a slight decrease due to the dynamism of the domestic market (-2 points over one year). The curve also indicates a certain number of irregularities related to clearly identified limited phenomena, such as the decline observed in July 2007 (non-renewal of names registered one year earlier on the opening to private individuals) and in February 2009 (non-renewal of domain names recorded in January 2008 during a one-off promotional campaign by a major registrar). Renewal rate for .fr domain names since 2007 90% Annual average (July 2009 - June 2010): renewal rate of 80% (-2 points over one year) 86% 86% 86% 86% 85% 85% 84% 84% 84%84% 84% 83% 83% 83%83% 83% 83% 83% 84% 84% 82% 82%82% 82% 82% 82% Renewal rate of domain names 83% 81% 82% 80% 80% 80% 81% 81% 80% 79% 77% Trend curve 78% 79% 78% (excluding the impact of one-off operations) 77% 75% Non-renewal of domain names Non-renewal of domain names one year after the promotional operation one year after the opening to private individuals 72% by OVH in January 2008 70% in June 2006 69% 65% 7 8 9 0 07 08 09 07 08 09 10 7 8 9 07 09 08 10 7 8 9 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 0 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 st st st ne ne ne ne r. r. r. r. . br br br br ct ct ct ec ec ec gu gu gu Ap Ap Ap Ap Fe Ju Fe Ju Fe Ju Fe Ju O O O D D D Au Au Au Months Figure 9 – Renewal of .fr domain names - 24 -
Chapter 5 Number of .fr domain names per holder ● Data source: Output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (number of names registered by private individuals and by legal entities). The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on the number of .fr domain names registered per holder, for each type of registrant (private individuals and legal entities). AFNIC strives to individually identify the holders of domain names in its database, by analysing the information provided when registering names. The same individual, however, may appear to be several different holders in the AFNIC database, if the person has registered domain names with different providers and provided different information in each record. This is also the case for companies when their domain names have been registered by different entities or affiliates and it has not been possible to link them. The numbers of holders output by the AFNIC database are therefore somewhat overestimated in relation to reality. The statistics presented in this chapter concerning the number of domain names per registrant must therefore be slightly lower than the actual values. Private individuals ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• A large majority of individual holders of .fr domain names have only one name under this Top Level Domain (79.5%). A small number of them own two .fr domain names (11.5%), the registration of three domain names ore more being much rarer. In one year, however, the percentage of private individuals with a single domain name has declined by more than one point while the percentage of holders of two domain names has gained 0.6 points. In June 2010 nearly 11,000 individuals each held more than 5 domain names. Since 2009, the number of private holders has increased by 24% and the number of names submitted by individuals by 26%. The average number of names per individual holder stands at 1.67 names per person (against 1.64 in 2009). - 25 -
A few individuals have a very large number of domain names: these are probably domainers offering these names on the secondary market. Two of them each have close to 7,000 .fr names in their portfolios. Number of .fr domain names registered by private individual holders in July 2010 5 domain names; 0.9% 4 domain names; 1.8% More than 5 domain names; 2.6% 3 domain names; 3.6% 2 domain names; 11.5% Average: 1.67 .fr domain names per private individual holder 1 domain name; 79.5% (-1.5 point over one year) Figure 10 – Number of .fr domain names per holder for private individuals Legal entities • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The distribution of the number of names per registrant for legal entities is quite similar to that obtained for private individuals. The percentage of holders, however, with only one .fr domain name is slightly higher for legal entities with nearly 84% against 80% for private individuals. Here also, the percentage of corporations that hold a single domain is slightly down by 0.8 points. In June 2010, nearly 18,000 legal entities held more than 5 domain names. In one year, the number of corporate holders has increased by 15% and the number of names registered by legal entities by 17.5%. The average rose in 2010 to 1.75 names per holder (against 1.71 in 2009). Finally, a few corporate holders have a very large number of .fr domain names, two of them holding approximately 10,000 and 12,000 names respectively. There may be companies engaged in the activity of domainers on the secondary market for the French ccTLD. - 26 -
Chapter 6 Lexicographical structure of .fr domain names ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a set of statistical data on the lexicographical structure of the .fr domain names present in the AFNIC database (length of name, presence of hyphens and numbers, the most commonly used terms, use of combinations of characters of the acronym type), as well as the proportion of various types of terms in the database (French words, French surnames and first names, names of municipalities, corporate names of companies and brands). Length of .fr domain names ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The figure below shows the distribution of the length of .fr domain names present in the AFNIC database (names directly under the .fr Top Level Domain without using a sub-domain, length without the “.fr” suffix). The most frequent length in 2010 was 9 characters, like last year: it was 8 in 2008. The average length has continuously risen by about 0.4 characters per year (11.3 in 2007 11.6 in 2008, 12 in 2009 and 12.4 this year). This development is a logical consequence of the increase in use of the extension, the shorter names being already taken and newcomers therefore registering longer names. The minimum length is 2 characters. All the combinations two characters long permitted by AFNIC (“figure figure”, “figure letter” and “letter figure”) were registered on 1 July 2010. The maximum size allowed by the charter is 63 characters (excluding the suffix). There are 9 .fr domain names of this length in the database: they consist of keywords added end to end, the aim being to improve their natural ranking by search engines. - 27 -
Length of .fr domain names in July 2010 8% 7% Average length: 12.4 (against 12.0 in 2009) 6% Mean length: 11.1 (against 10.8 in 2009) Percentage of domain names 5% 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 Length Figure 11 – Length of .fr domain names Hyphens and numbers in .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Hyphens are widely used in .fr domain names: a quarter of the names contain a single hyphen, and more than a third of the names contain one or more. Figures are much less used: only about 6% of the names contain any. Names with two figures are more numerous than those with single digits, and those with four figures more than those containing three, probably due to the presence of the numbers of French departments and years in .fr domain names. Terms used in .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Domain names are sometimes created by their holders from generic terms. This study identifies the terms present in the .fr domain names as strings of alphabetic characters, preceded and followed where applicable by a non-alphabetic character (hyphen or number). For example, the “hotel-paris.fr” domain name would be taken into account for the terms “hotel” and “Paris”, but not the name “hotelparis.fr”. Among the terms most used in .fr domain names in 2010, excluding linking terms (articles, conjunctions, prepositions), the following are primarily found: • geographic terms (“france”, “paris”, “saint”), • terms related to real estate (“immobilier” [real estate], “maison” [house], “immo” [estate]), - 28 -
• terms related to tourism, leisure activities and practical things (“hotel”, “location” [rental], “maison” [house], “auto” [car], “restaurant”, “art”), • terms related to services (“services”, “conseil” [advice], “formation” [training]), • computing terms (“web”, “informatique” [IT], “online”), • terms relating to municipalities (“mairie” and “ville” [city council] used in non-binding AFNIC naming conventions in the form of “mairie-commune.fr” and “ville-commune.fr” [where “commune” is the name of the city or the town]). Use of the terms “restaurant” and “paris” have risen sharply in a year with growth rates of 64% and 41% respectively. Conversely, the terms “mairie” and “ville” have dropped rather sharply in percentage over the last three years, which suggests that municipalities have increasingly tended to register their domain name without adding these two terms. Most frequently used terms in .fr domain names in July 2010 (excluding linking terms) france immobilier paris hotel location services web maison saint conseil mairie auto formation immo informatique ville groupe restaurant online art 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 Number of domain names containing the word Figure 12 – Main terms used in .fr domain names Years are also terms used in domain names. Logically, years passed have decreased (2008, 2009) while current and future years are more frequent (2010, 2011). The symbolic year 2000 is still seeing strong growth, as is 2012 (the year of the French presidential elections, and the Olympic Summer Games in London) and 2016 (French regional elections, Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, and the European Football Championship in France). In this way, we can evaluate the tendency of users to register names associated with event-specific operations but which may potentially recur from one year to the next. - 29 -
Combinations registered as .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • This analysis concerns the combinations of 2 to 5 letters and/or numbers, given that combinations composed of only two characters are prohibited by the Naming Charter. These combinations are interesting to study because they may correspond to acronyms such as those of companies. The results indicate that combinations of two valid characters, with three letters or three figures have almost all been registered (in 2008, only 60% of the combinations of three numbers had been registered). The ratio falls to 46% for those three letters or numbers, and to 8% or less for longer combinations. These proportions are all on the increase since last year, especially the combinations of three letters, which are much appreciated by domainers (+ 7 points). Searches using various lists of terms • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following analysis examines the proportion of terms from different sources that had been registered as .fr domain names in July 2010: • French dictionary words, • French family names and first names, • The names of French municipalities, • The names of French and global companies or brands. Search terms can contain forbidden characters in .fr domain names (accented characters, spaces, punctuation signs, etc.). Accented characters are replaced by their unaccented equivalent, while the other forbidden characters and hyphens are either deleted or replaced with a hyphen. Thus, for the town of Pont l’Eveque, we have tested the four names “pontleveque”, “pont-leveque”, “pontl-eveque” and “pont-l-eveque”. French words registered as .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • We have used three lists of French words: • The list of the most frequently used words of the French language drawn up by the lexicographer Étienne Brunet (1,364 words)7, • The Dubois-Buyse spelling scale, containing a set of commonly used words supposedly known to every French adult as a result of gradual acquisition between primary and high school (3,725 words)8, • The list of French words drawn up by Christophe Pallier, as part of the Gutenberg Project by the University of Lausanne (336,527 words with plurals and conjugated forms in all the verb tenses)9. Note however that the conjugated forms of verbs are unlikely to be registered as .fr domain names. - 30 -
The results indicate that, out of the complete dictionary of some 300,000 words in French, 10% are registered as .fr domain names (the ratio was 8% in 2007). This percentage is approaching 85% for the most current French words, up 9 points over the last three years. Percentage of French words registered as .fr domain names in July 2010 100% 90% +9 since 2007 +10 since 2007 80% Percentage of words regisrered as domain names 70% 60% 50% 84% 40% 79% 30% 20% +2 since 2007 10% 10% 0% Dictionary of the 1,500 most Dictionary of the 4,000 most Complete dictionary frequent words frequent words List of French words Figure 13 – Proportion of French words registered as .fr domain names Names of French municipalities registered as .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • This study is based on three lists: • The list of municipalities with over 30,000 inhabitants on 1 January 2007, according to Wikipedia10 (259 unique names), • The list of municipalities with over 20,000 inhabitants between 1982 and 2007, according to Wikipedia11 (461 unique names), • The list of municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants in 2006, according to the LEXILOGOS website (943 unique names)12, • The list of all the municipalities in France (metropolitan and overseas territories), obtained from the official geographic code of the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) (over 36,000 municipalities corresponding to 34,235 unique names after deleting duplicates)13. - 31 -
The analysis identified whether the name of each municipality is included in the AFNIC base alone or preceded by the words “ville” or “mairie” used in the .fr naming conventions (with an optional separation hyphen). The results indicate that virtually all the names of municipalities with more than 10,000 people have been registered in the .fr TLD, the ratio exceeding one out of every three for all the municipalities in France (up 2 points since last year). It is worth noting that the names of municipalities have been protected by AFNIC since 2004, so that only the municipalities in question may register the corresponding names. Business names and trademarks registered as .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • This study is based on five lists: • The list of the 40 companies in the CAC 40 stock market index14, • The list of the 100 largest French companies according to their sales turnover in 2006, according to Wikipedia15, • The list of the leading 1,000 French companies according to their sales turnover, published by the website “L’Expansion.com”16, • The list of the leading 500 companies worldwide according to their sales turnover, published by “Fortune” magazine17, • The list of trademarks used in France, according to Wikipedia18 (approximately 2,500 trademarks). - 32 -
The results indicate that all the names of CAC 40 companies have now been reserved under the .fr Top Level Domain (+ 3 points over a year). The same applies to 93 of the top 100 companies in France, and nearly 80% of the top 1,000. With regard to global companies that do not necessarily have a location in France, more than half have reserved their .fr domain name. Finally, three quarters of the trademarks used in France have also been registered in the national TLD. These figures have increased from one to two percentage points since last year. Percentage of company names and trademarks registered as .fr domain names in July 2010 +3 over one year 100% Companies Trademarks 90% +1 over one year Percentage of names registered as domain names 80% +1 over one year 70% 60% +2 over one year 50% 100% 93% 40% 79% 75% 30% 53% 20% 10% 0% CAC 40 Companies List of 100 largest French List of 1,000 largest French List of 500 largest List of 2,500 French companies companies companies worldwide brands List of companies or brands Figure 14 – Proportion of business names and trademarks registered as .fr domain names - 33 -
Part Three: Holders Chapter 7 The location of private registrants of .fr domain names ● Data source: Output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (geographical distribution of domain names held by private individuals), INSEE statistics. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistical data on the geographical location of individuals (natural persons) holding .fr domain names, as well as the associated penetration rates (domain names per 1,000 inhabitants) and annual growth rates. Opening remarks • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Since location information is provided by the holders of .fr domain names, the AFNIC database contains some erroneous records, such as the numbers of non-existent French departments. These extremely minor errors have been excluded from the analysis. Because of the location method by zip code, the results provided in this study are aggregated in the case of Corsica (no distinction between departments 2A and 2B) and Guadeloupe (no distinction between Guadeloupe, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin). - 34 -
Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The .fr country-code Top Level Domain is open to individuals of French nationality residing abroad since 16 March 2010. At the time of the extraction from the database in July 2010, 0.1% of the domain names (i.e. approximately 600 names) belonged to individuals living abroad in 54 different countries. More than a third of them were located in Belgium, nearly 15% in Switzerland and 60% in Europe. Distribution per country outside France of private individuals holding .fr domain names in July 2010 (opening of the .fr TLD to French citizens living abroad on 16 March 2010) Other countries 18.9% Belgium 36.3% Italy 2.2% Luxembourg 2.9% Canada 3.0% Spain 3.2% Germany 3.7% Israel 4.0% UK 5.4% USA 6.2% Switzerland 14.2% Figure 15 – Distribution per country of the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals 99% of the domain names located in France are in metropolitan France and 1% overseas. The national average is about 6,500 domain names per department and the mean value is 2,900, but with marked geographical differences: nearly 115,000 names for Paris against approximately 400 for the Lozère department. Unsurprisingly, there are high concentrations of registrants in the most densely populated departments. By themselves, the eight departments of the Ile-de-France concentrate 38% of the domain names registered in France by private individuals. Conversely, rural departments make up the top quartile. The Paris department represents over 16% of the individual holders of .fr domain names, far ahead of the departments following. The top 10 contain five departments in the Île de France region, and the other most densely populated departments in France: Rhone, Bouches-du-Rhone, Haute Garonne, Nord and Alpes- Maritimes. - 35 -
Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following maps indicate the number of domain names registered by private individuals in relation to the population of the department in question, in domain names per 1,000 inhabitants. The population figures for the departments are derived from INSEE estimates on 1 January 200819, and various sources for the overseas territories (INSEE, Wikipedia). The national average is 7.6 names per 1,000 inhabitants, against 6 in 2009, again with marked disparities between departments (from 51 for Paris to 3 for the Haute-Marne). Compared with the statistics on the gross number of domain names, new departments appear in the bottom quartile: they are departments with lower population densities, but in which .fr domain names have been in high demand by private individuals in relation to the population (Charente -Maritime, Dordogne, Savoie, Drôme and Vaucluse). - 36 -
Number of .fr domain names registered by individuals per 1,000 inhabitants (Metropolitan France) On July 1st 2010 93 62 59 75 92 80 94 76 02 08 60 50 14 95 57 27 55 51 78 54 61 77 67 91 29 22 28 10 35 53 88 56 52 68 72 45 89 44 21 70 41 49 37 25 18 58 Number of 79 36 71 39 domain names 85 86 per 1,000 inhabitants 03 Less than 5 23 01 74 5 to 6.5 17 87 69 16 63 42 73 6.5 to 8.8 19 38 24 15 43 More than 8.8 33 07 26 05 source 46 AFNIC 48 47 12 40 82 30 84 04 06 81 32 34 31 13 83 64 65 11 09 66 2B 2A Figure 16 – Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants (Metropolitan France) - 37 -
The overseas departments are in the top quartile, except Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which has a rate of 6 .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants, close to the French mean of 6.5. Number of .fr domain names registered by individuals per 1,000 inhabitants (Overseas) On July 1st 2010 St Pierre and Miquelon New Caledonia Number of domain names per 1,000 inhabitants Less than 5 Mayotte Guadeloupe 5 to 6.5 6.5 to 8.8 Wallis and Futuna Islands More than 8.8 source AFNIC Martinique Reunion Island French Polynesia French Guiana Figure 17 – Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants (Overseas territories) The top 10 departments for the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants shows that Paris is still well head (51 names), followed once again by Hauts-de-Seine and Val-de-Marne. Some departments that were not present in the top 10 for the absolute number of registered names are now included: Hérault, Essonne and Bas-Rhin, where registration by private individuals has real momentum (12 at 14 names per 1,000 inhabitants). - 38 -
Growth rate over one year • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following figure shows the growth rate over one year in the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals. The average growth in the number of names registered by individuals is close to 27%. Year’s percentage rise in the number of .fr domain names registered by individuals (Metropolitan France) On July 1st 2010 93 62 59 75 92 80 94 76 02 08 60 50 14 57 27 95 55 51 78 54 61 77 67 91 29 22 28 10 35 53 88 56 52 68 72 45 89 44 21 70 41 49 37 25 Percentage rise 18 58 per department 79 36 71 39 Less than 25% 85 86 03 25% to 28% 23 01 74 17 87 69 28% to 31% 16 63 42 73 More than 31% 19 38 24 15 43 source AFNIC 33 07 26 05 46 48 47 12 40 82 30 84 04 06 81 32 34 31 13 83 64 65 11 09 66 2B 2A Figure 18 – Annual growth rate in the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals (Metropolitan France) - 39 -
In the overseas territories, French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique have growth rates over a year some 30% above the national average, while Saint Pierre and Miquelon and New Caledonia follow close behind with 26-28%. Year’s percentage rise in the number of .fr domain names registered by individuals (Overseas) On July 1st 2010 St Pierre and Miquelon New Caledonia Percentage rise per department Less than 25% Mayotte 25% to 28% Guadeloupe 28% to 31% More than 31% Wallis and Futuna Islands source AFNIC Martinique Reunion Island French Polynesia French Guiana Figure 19 – Annual growth rate in the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals (Overseas territories) The list of the top 10 departments for the annual growth rate reflects a strong registration momentum among private individuals in these departments. The annual growth rate exceeds 40% in three French departments: Haute-Saône, Aisne and Val-de-Marne. Besides the fact that departments with lower population densities are catching the others up, this table also shows the departments that are already well positioned and that are consolidating their lead, such as Val-de-Marne and to a lesser extent, Aude. - 40 -
Chapter 8 The location of legal entities registrants of .fr domain names ● Data source: Output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (geographical distribution of domain names held by legal entities), INSEE statistics. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistical data on the geographical location of legal entities (companies, associations, government agencies, etc.) holding .fr domain names, as well as the associated penetration rates (domain names per 1,000 companies) and annual growth rates. Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The AFNIC Charter implies that corporations registering an .fr domain name must have their registered office or a facility located in France, or hold a trademark in France, or hold an EU or international trademark covering France. A large majority of the corporate holders of .fr domain names are located in France (98.1%). Companies located abroad (holders of trademarks covering France) are located in 90 different countries, mostly in the European Union (75%) or in North America (17%). Only 8% of them are located in another region of the world. Germany made rapid progress this year: its market share in .fr domain names registered abroad has nearly doubled in one year (from 18% to 35%), probably due to a German domainer holding a large portfolio of names. Mechanically, the other countries have dropped in the rankings, except Belgium, which has continued to rise. - 41 -
Distribution per country outside France of legal entities holding .fr domain names in July 2010 Other countries 8.1% Sweden 2.2% Spain 2.3% Italy 2.5% Switzerland 4.4% Germany 34.6% (+16.6 points over one year) Belgium 4.6% Denmark 6.1% Netherlands 8.6% UK 9.8% USA 16.7% Figure 20 – Distribution per country of the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities The national average for the number of .fr domain names registered by corporations is approximately 10,000 names per department against 8,600 in 2009, and the mean this year stands at 4,200 names. Here also there are major disparities between the highly industrialised departments (18% of the domain names are located in Paris and 37% for the whole of the Île-de-France region) and rural departments (less than 0.1% in Creuse and Lozère). The breakdown by department for corporations is also very close to the corresponding distribution for private individuals. Two departments, however, appear in the bottom quartile for corporations when they were not included for individuals: Maine-et-Loire and Charente-Maritime, where the corporate market seems comparatively more dynamic than that for private individuals. As far as overseas territories are concerned, Reunion Island is located in the first half of the French departments for the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities, with approximately 8,000 names. Martinique and Guadeloupe follow in the rankings with more than 2,000 names. The top 10 departments for corporations consist essentially of the same departments as for private individuals, but in a different order. Haute-Garonne is comparatively better placed on the corporate market, while Val-de-Marne is better ranked on the private individual market. - 42 -
Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following maps represent the number of domain names registered by corporations per 1,000 companies by the department. The number of companies per department is based on INSEE statistics from 1 January 2009 concerning the scope of trading activities other than agriculture20. This consists of business units involved in real economic activity in all the commercial sectors of industry, construction, trade and services. It excludes business units whose operation is not financed by a commercial activity (government, local authorities, social organisations, non-commercial associations, etc.), as well as agriculture, forestry and fishing. The national average is 260 corporate names per 1,000 legal entities against 230 in 2009 (to compare with the average of 7.6 individuals’ names per 1,000 inhabitants). Once again, we find large disparities between departments, the first (Haute-Garonne with 830 names for 1,000 companies) has nearly 20 times more than the last (Guadeloupe with 48 names for 1,000). In addition, several departments appear in the bottom quartile when they were not included in the gross number of domain names for corporations (le Loiret, Indre-et-Loire, les Deux-Sèvres, Côte-d’Or and Loire), where the corporate market is experiencing a significant upswing. - 43 -
Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies (Metropolitan France) On July 1st 2010 93 62 59 75 92 80 94 76 02 08 60 50 14 57 27 95 55 51 78 54 61 77 67 91 29 22 28 10 35 53 88 56 52 68 72 45 89 44 21 70 41 49 37 25 Number of 18 58 domain names per 1,000 companies 79 36 71 39 Less than 200 85 86 03 200 to 230 23 01 74 17 87 69 230 to 290 16 63 42 73 More than 290 19 38 24 15 43 source AFNIC 33 07 26 05 46 48 47 12 40 82 30 84 04 06 81 32 34 31 13 83 64 65 11 09 66 2B 2A Figure 21 – Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies (Metropolitan France) - 44 -
The results for the overseas territories only cover the four departments with usable statistics on company numbers. Reunion Island is at the bottom of the second quartile, with just over 200 names for 1,000 companies. Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies (Overseas) On July 1st 2010 Number of Guadeloupe Reunion Island domain names per 1,000 companies Less than 200 200 to 230 230 to 290 More than 290 Martinique source French Guiana AFNIC Figure 22 – Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies (Overseas) The list of the top 10 departments for the number of corporate domain name registrations per 1,000 firms is similar to that for the absolute number of such registrations, but there are three new departments (Bas-Rhin, Moselle, and Maine-et-Loire). Haute-Garonne and Hauts-de-Seine rank higher than Paris in the classification for the number of domain names per 1,000 companies, for reasons that are perhaps different (there is a major domainer in Haute-Garonne, and in Hauts-de-Seine there are many corporate headquarters that are potential holders of large portfolios of names). - 45 -
Growth rate over one year • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The figure below shows the last year’s percentage rise in the number of .fr domain names registered by corporate bodies. The national average growth for the year was 20%, very similar to the 21% observed in 2009. Year’s percentage rise in the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities (Metropolitan France) On July 1st 2010 93 62 59 75 92 80 94 76 02 08 60 50 14 95 57 27 55 51 78 54 61 77 67 91 29 22 28 10 35 53 88 56 52 68 72 45 89 44 21 70 41 49 37 25 18 58 Percentage rise per department 79 36 71 39 Less than 17% 85 86 03 17% to 19.5% 23 01 74 17 87 69 19.5% to 23% 16 63 42 73 More than 23% 19 38 24 15 43 source AFNIC 33 07 26 05 46 48 47 12 40 82 30 84 04 06 81 32 34 31 13 83 64 65 11 09 66 2B 2A Figure 23 – Annual percentage increase in the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities (Metropolitan France) - 46 -
In 2010, many departments or local authorities overseas showed annual growth rates higher than 30%: Reunion Island, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna Islands, Martinique and Mayotte. Year’s percentage rise in the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities (Overseas) On July 1st 2010 St Pierre and Miquelon New Caledonia Percentage rise per department Less than 17% Mayotte Guadeloupe 17% to 19.5% 19.5% to 23% Wallis and Futuna Islands More than 23% source AFNIC Martinique Reunion Island French Polynesia French Guiana Figure 24 – Annual percentage increase in the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities (Overseas) Among the highest annual growth rates for the number of domain names held by corporations, some departments with low results have caught up the lag (New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, Mayotte), but also other departments with better results, which have reinforced their position (Haute-Savoie and Var). - 47 -
Chapter 9 Location of private individual and legal entities holding .fr domain names ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (geographical distribution of domain names held by private individuals and legal entities). The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on the geographical location of .fr domain name holders, whether they are private individuals or corporate bodies), and the corresponding annual growth rates. Total number of .fr domain names (private individuals and legal entities). ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The national average for the number of domain names registered per department including all types of holders is about 16,600 domain names against 13,800 in 2009. The mean value is approximately 7,500 domains per department. Logically enough, the disparities observed in both the private individual and legal entity markets can be seen on the global market: Paris leads with about 310,000 domain names, while there are only 1,200 in the Creuse and Lozère departments. The most dynamic departments on the global market are virtually the same as on the legal entity market, and remain the majority for the .fr Top Level Domain. - 48 -
Total number of .fr domain names (Metropolitan France) On July 1st 2010 93 62 59 75 92 80 94 76 02 08 60 50 14 57 27 95 55 51 78 54 61 77 67 91 29 22 28 10 35 53 88 56 52 68 72 45 89 44 21 70 41 Number of 49 domain names 37 25 per department 18 58 Less than 3,500 79 36 71 39 85 86 3,500 to 7,500 03 23 01 74 7,500 to 15,000 17 87 69 16 63 More than 15,000 42 73 19 38 source 24 15 43 AFNIC 33 07 26 05 46 48 47 12 40 82 30 84 04 06 81 32 34 31 13 83 64 65 11 09 66 2B 2A Figure 25 – Total number of .fr domain names (Metropolitan France) - 49 -
Overseas, Guadeloupe and Martinique each have about 3,800 .fr domain names, with very similar weights on the market for private individuals and for legal entities (around 0.2% of the total number in France). As for Reunion Island, its portfolio of nearly 11,000 names focuses more on the corporate market (weight of 0.8%) than that for private individuals (0.4%). Total number of .fr domain names (Overseas) On July 1st 2010 St Pierre and Miquelon New Caledonia Number of domain names per department Less than 3,500 Mayotte Guadeloupe 3,500 to 7,500 7,500 to 15,000 Wallis and Futuna Islands More than 15,000 source AFNIC Martinique Reunion Island French Polynesia French Guiana Figure 26 – Total number of .fr domain names (Overseas territories) In the top 10 departments for the total number of .fr domain names, we find most of the departments that already figured among the top 10 for corporate registrations, and in exactly the same order. In 2010, Paris continued to concentrate almost 18% of French domain names and Île-de-France 37%, the phenomenon of concentration regressing, however, over the years (19% and 39% two years ago). - 50 -
Chapter 10 Ages of individual holders of .fr domain names. ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (dates of birth of individual holders), INSEE statistics. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on individual holders of .fr domain names (the age pyramid and changes to same). Age pyramid of individual holders of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • This study uses ages on January 1. In addition, since the dates of birth are provided by holders when registering their domain name, the AFNIC database contains a small percentage of outliers for ages (approximately 0.3%, from -57 to 119 years of age). This study does not take into account values below 18 years of age (in accordance with the AFNIC Charter, which requires that holders be adult) and, more arbitrarily, those above 90 years of age. Certain values of the age pyramid seem to be over-represented: they probably correspond to the default values of the registrars’ software interfaces, which holders do not change (either deliberately or not) when they register their domain name. For instance, 39 years (year of birth: 1970), is an over-represented age, doubtless because 1 January 1970 is the start date for a certain number of operating systems (Unix). The mean age of name holders in 2010 is 38. The mean age was 36: there are as many holders aged under 36 as those aged over 36. The average age and the mean age have both increased five months since 2009, while the number of holders increased by 24.4% over the same period. A comparison of this age pyramid with that for the French population based on INSEE statistics (metropolitan France and Overseas departments) shows that historical events have had a similar impact on both curves: the deficit of births during the Second World War, and the baby boom which followed from 1946 to 1973 (36 to 63 age groups). Earlier events (the Great War) are not visible on the holder curve, because of the lesser use of domain names by senior citizens. - 51 -
There is also a change in statistical behaviour at 48 years of age: before that age, holders of .fr domain names are proportionally more numerous in their age group than in the general population, while after it the ratio is reversed. Comparison of age pyramids for private individual holders of .fr domain names and the French population in 2010 (aged 18 to 90) 4.5% More holders than private individuals Fewer holders than private individuals 4.0% End of (holders of domain names or French population) baby boom Private individual holders 3.5% French population 3.0% Percentage of Sample Baby boom World War II 2.5% 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0.0% 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 Ages of individuals Figure 27 – Comparison of age pyramids for individual holders of .fr domain names, and the French population The mean is 8.2 domain names per 1,000 inhabitants for the whole population in 2010 (against 6.6 in 2009), while the maximum is around 30 years with 16.8 names per 1,000 inhabitants (excluding overestimated values). The curve rises quickly between the age of majority and this maximum, and then declines steadily with the number of years. - 52 -
Changes in the ages of individual holders of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Growth in the number of holders remained strong in 2010 (24.4%), although it has experienced a slowdown over one year (36% in 2009). The mean age of holders of .fr domain names has increased 5 months in one year, from 35.5 to 36. This change, however, is closely linked to the natural aging of the population of holders (+12 months). Excluding demographics, the trend is still negative (-7 months), indicating that it is the younger age groups which remain the main drivers for growth of the Top Level Domain. Changes over one year of private individuals holding .fr domain names (aged 18 to 90) Change due to Change excl. Characteristic 2009 2010 Overall change demographics demographics Number of persons 329,499 409,799 0.0% 24.4% 24.4% Mean age 35.5 36.0 12 months -7 months 5 months Table 2 – Annual change in the ages of individual holders of .fr domain names The distribution of individual holders per age group is gradually changing because of the natural aging of the population. For instance, the number of people aged 34-50 years increased in 2010 in relation to those aged 18-34 years (41.5% and 40.6% in June), when the ratio up until the present date was the opposite. In relative terms, older age groups are little represented, standing at 18% of the population, but they increased slightly (+0.5 points over one year). Excluding demographics, the rate of growth in the number of domain names per age group is higher than that for the average population (24.4%) from 19 to 30 years of age, and even reaches very high values up to 26 years of age, with annual growth rates above 30%. If we exclude the demographic factor, this rate of growth remains close to the average for the 31 to 38 age group, and then drops below it from age 39 onwards. Indeed, growth over one year was less than 20% after 47 years of age. - 53 -
Part Four: Registrars Chapter 11 Registrars of .fr domain names ● Data source: Historical AFNIC data (changes in number of registrars since 1996) and data from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (distribution of registrars per country and per French department). The purpose of chapter is to provide certain items of information about the registrars of .fr domain names, including their number, changes over time and geographical distribution. Number of registrars of .fr domain names ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• At the end of June 2010 there were 802 registrars of .fr domain names in all. Over the last year this number has fallen by approximately 70 providers (or a drop of 8% as in 2009). The number of registrars grew very fast until the end of 2001; it then dropped for a few years when the dotcom bubble burst. Since June 2006, when individuals began to be able to register .fr names, the market has restructured: some smaller registrars have become resellers for registrars who handle larger portfolios of names, which has reduced the overall number of registrars. Changes in the number of registrars of .fr domain names since 1997 1,400 Creation Explosion of the Right to name Opening of .fr of AFNIC Internet bubble relinquished on .fr to private individuals 1,200 1,154 1,106 1,076 1,057 1,047 1,026 1,031 1,051 1,039 1,031 1,018 1,001 992 985 962 960 952 1,000 890 874 814 802 800 758 Number of registrars 652 600 498 441 400 311 277 179 200 0 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 .9 .9 .9 .9 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Months Figure 28 – Changes in the number of registrars of .fr domain names - 54 -
A breakdown of registrars by nationality reveals that the increase in concentration has affected French providers, the numbers of foreign registrars remaining more stable over time. Over the last year, the number of registrars has fallen by 64 in France ( 8%), and by 8 abroad (-7%). Location of registrars of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following figure shows the distribution of registrars per French department. The national average is 6.6 registrars per department (against 7 in 2009), with marked discrepancies. The departments in the bottom quartile, which have more than 6 registrars, are those of the largest French cities (Paris and Île-de-France, Lyon, Marseille, Grenoble, Lille, Nice, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nantes, Rennes, Mulhouse, Brest, Tours, Orleans). With 127 providers, Paris alone concentrates 19% of the registrars of .fr domain names, and the eight departments in the Île de France region contain 38% of them. Conversely, only 17 departments have only one registrar, and 13 have none (Ardennes, Cher, Dordogne, Haute-Saone, Hautes-Alpes, Loir-et-Cher, Lot, Lozère, Nièvre, and in the overseas territories, Mayotte, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna). - 55 -
Since 2009, most departments have remained stable or have lost a limited number of providers. The most marked declines over the past year were in Paris (-16), Gironde (-6) and Val-de-Marne (-5). Breakdown of registrars of .fr domain names (Metropolitan France) On July 1st 2010 93 62 59 75 92 80 94 76 02 08 60 50 14 57 27 95 55 51 78 54 61 77 67 91 29 22 28 10 35 53 88 56 52 68 72 45 89 44 21 70 Number 41 49 of registrar(s) 37 25 per department 18 58 0 or 1 79 36 71 39 85 86 2 to 3 03 23 01 74 4 to 6 17 87 69 16 63 More than 6 42 73 19 38 source 24 15 43 AFNIC 33 07 26 05 46 48 47 12 40 82 30 84 04 06 81 32 34 31 13 83 64 65 11 09 66 2B 2A Figure 29 – Distribution of registrars of .fr domain names (Metropolitan France) - 56 -
Among the French registrars, approximately 2% are located overseas: there are five providers in Reunion Island, 4 in Martinique and one in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Breakdown of registrars of .fr domain names (Overseas) On July 1st 2010 St Pierre and Miquelon New Caledonia Number of registrar(s) per department Mayotte 0 or 1 Guadeloupe 2 to 3 Wallis and Futuna Islands 4 to 6 More than 6 source Martinique AFNIC Reunion Island French Polynesia French Guiana Figure 30 – Distribution of registrars of .fr domain names (Overseas territories) - 57 -
Among the top ten departments in terms of registrar numbers, Paris heads the list with twice as many registrars as the runner-up, Hauts-de-Seine. Alongside four departments in the Greater Paris region, we find (not surprisingly) the departments which have the most heavily populated towns or those which are most enthusiastically adopting new technology: Lyon, Marseille, Grenoble, Lille, Nice and Strasbourg. These 10 departments alone account for more than half of all French registrars. Among the registrars of .fr domain names, 14.5% are located outside France. Nearly three quarters of the foreign providers are members of the European Union and 10% are located in North America. Location of registrars of .fr domain names outside France in July 2010 Other countries; 12 Australia; 2 Germany; 24 Sweden; 3 Canada; 3 Monaco; 4 Luxembourg; 4 Belgium; 13 Italy; 6 Denmark; 6 Netherlands; 12 Switzerland; 8 USA; 8 UK; 11 Figure 31 – Distribution of registrars of .fr domain names outside France - 58 -
Chapter 12 Services and prices offered by registrars ● Data source: Websites of the 30 top registrars of .fr domain names in terms of the numbers of names managed (checks carried out in September 2010). The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on the services offered by the leading registrars of .fr domain names, and the prices they charge. The details were collected in September 2010 from the websites of the 30 registrars handling the largest numbers of .fr domain names. Since these 30 registrars together manage 87% of the domain names in the .fr zone, the results obtained from them would seem to be reasonably representative of the overall market. Services offered by registrars • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Registrars’ offerings differ in many ways. Firstly, the number of domains available for registration is very variable. Some offer only a limited number: the main gTLDs .com/.net/.org/.biz/.info; the ccTLDs .fr and .re (Reunion Island) and the European domain .eu; also frequently .mobi (mobile devices), and other French language ccTLDs such as .be (Belgium). Other registrars have a wider range, covering dozens of TLDs. Lastly, there are far fewer which claim to offer registration under all of the available Top Level Domains (around 250). Only 20% of the registrars studied include web hosting in their basic domain name package; the amount of space varies considerably (from 1 MB to 2 GB). Others offer hosting as an additional service at an extra charge. E-mail hosting is likewise often bundled with the basic package (in 40% of the cases, the space provided ranges from 100 MB to 25 GB). Most offers also include web and e-mail redirection services in connection with the registered domain name. On the other hand, security services associated with an e-mail address (anti-virus and anti-spam) appear to be included in only one out of four basic packages. The other services offered in basic and/or supplementary packages are tools for creating web sites, a webmail service associated with the e-mail addresses, and search engine optimisation for websites. Some registrars also offer an anonymous Whois service so that the customer’s personal details need not appear in the Whois directories (a default function for individuals in the .fr domain). Lastly, some registrars offer professional portfolio management services for large accounts: pre-registration checks on priority and other research, post-registration monitoring, legal advice and redress services for cases of cybersquatting, etc. - 59 -
Registrars’ charges • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The price taken into account in this study is the fee for the renewal of a domain name for one year, excluding additional services, rebates, and temporary promotional offers. Some of the registrars analysed do not provide information online on their tariffs and therefore were not included in this study (primarily the business market). It should also be noted that corporate customers may benefit from preferential rates lower than the published tariffs displayed, as part of other business negotiations. The figure below shows the range of annual fees charged in September 2010 by the registrars studied for .fr domain names. As with the services provided, the scale of the fees charged is extremely wide, ranging from € 5 to approximately € 160 plus VAT. The mean for the sample of 30 top registrars was €12 plus VAT, which means there are as many offers above as below € 12). In addition, the weighted average per market share of registrars this year was equal to € 13.50, a figure which has been dropping for the last two years (€ 15 in 2008 and then € 14 in 2009). Compared with the 2009 study, the prices of the providers surveyed have experienced differing trends: they are stable in almost 60% of the offers, but have risen in 25% of the cases, and have dropped in 15% of the cases. The wide range of fees charged is due both to the variety of market segments catered for (general public, SMEs/micro-enterprises, large corporations, domain name resellers), and to the value-added services which may be associated with the domain name in a package deal: these may be technical services (web hosting, e-mail accounts, etc.), legal services (priority searches, surveillance, name recovery, legal assistance, etc.) or marketing services (SEO, etc.). In addition, two-thirds of the registrars studied offered volume discounts for longer registration periods and/or the number of names purchased, particularly in the case of domain name resellers. - 60 -
Prices for .fr domain names in September 2010 per registrar (Study of the top 30 registrars in terms of the number of registered domain names) 4.99 € 6.90 € 6.99 € Mean rate: 6.99 € € 12 excl. VAT in 2010 8.45 € (unchanged since 2008, € 17 in 2007) 9.00 € 11.88 € Average weighted price per market share 12.00 € for registrars: 12.00 € € 13.5 excl. VAT in 2010 12.00 € (against € 14 in 2009 and € 15 in 2008) Registrar 12.00 € 14.40 € 18.00 € 23.90 € 28.00 € 29.00 € 35.00 € 59.40 € 69.00 € 160.00 € 0€ 20 € 40 € 60 € 80 € 100 € 120 € 140 € 160 € 180 € Annual price in euros excl. VAT (basic offer) Figure 32 – Rates for .fr domain names The mean price of the European domain .eu, which until now continued to be a little more expensive than the others, fell 15% year on year, while the prices for other Top Level Domains remained relatively stable. Mean prices are now almost identical for all the TLDs studied, standing at around € 12 plus VAT per year. Many of the main providers have aligned the prices of the most common TLDs, among other reasons, for clarity to their clients. The rates for the .fr TLD are the same or lower than those for the .com TLD in 70% of the offers studied, corresponding to 80% of the domain names managed. - 61 -
Chapter 13 Analysis of the registrar market ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (number of domain names per holder type and per registrar), Dot and Co statistics (ICANN-accredited registrars). The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the registrar market for the .fr and generic Top Level Domains, using different methods (HHI and CR econometric indices, catchment areas). Market for registrars of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • In July 2010, of the 765 accredited registrars of .fr domain names managing at least one domain, almost all (754) manage domain names registered by corporations while only 507 have a portfolio of names registered by private individuals. However, the number of providers making offers to individuals has grown over the year (+6%), while it continues to fall in the professional sector (-8%). Market for individuals The average number of .fr domain names registered by individuals per registrar is 1,350 (against 1,130 in 2008), but with considerable discrepancies between the various registrars. While some 30 providers manage portfolios with more than 1,000 names, more than half of the registrars manage fewer than 10 names. The individuals’ market, then, features a long tail of very small registrars, alongside a few really big players. The number of registrars managing less than 10 domains fell, however, by 3 points over one year, to the benefit of those managing between 10 and 100 domains. The following table indicates the value of the concentration indices for the private individual market. Indices of the “CRi” type (Concentration Ratio) represent the cumulative market share of the “i” top players in the market. In this case, the main player represents more than 30% of the overall market (CR1), the first four holding nearly three-quarters of the market (CR4) and the top ten having a market share approaching 90% (CR10). Changes in these ratios over the last year show that the market share held by the top four and top ten players has grown less than that of the top registrar (+3 percentage points): the concentration in the private individual market has therefore basically benefitted the market leader at the expense of its direct competitors. - 62 -
The HHI (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index) is calculated as the sum of the squares of the market shares of all the players involved. It can range from 0 (very competitive market) to 1 (a monopoly), and is used by the competition authorities to study the potential consequences of mergers and takeovers. The HHI is close to 0.19 on the market for individuals, when it was equal to 0.17 last year: this means that between 2009 and 2010 the market switched from the “moderately concentrated” state to the “concentrated” state (i.e. an HHI greater than 0.18). This concentration has been going on for several years, however: the index rose from 0.13 in 2007 to 0.19 three years later. Market for .fr domain names in 2010 - Private individuals Parameter 2010 2009 Change Number of registrars 507 479 6% Number of domain names 685,075 541,761 26% Ave. nb domain names / registrar 1,351 1,131 19% Concentration index 2010 2009 Change CR1 32.0% 29.0% 3.0 CR4 73.9% 71.5% 2.4 CR10 88.2% 87.3% 0.9 HHI 0.187 0.170 0.017 The private individual market in 2010 changed from “moderately concentrated” to “concentrated” (HHI ≥ 0.18). Table 3 – Concentration indices for the market for .fr domain names registered by private individuals Corporate market With regard to the corporate market, the characteristics of the distribution of registrars in relation to the number of domain names managed are very different from those of the private individual market: the market share held by very small players (fewer than 10 names) represents a minority (92) of the registrars, while the largest group concerns providers of average size, managing between 10 and 100 names (321 registrars). The share of providers with more than 1,000 domain names in their portfolio showed a slight increase over last year (+2 points at 11%, against 9% in 2009). The concentration indices show that the corporate market is considerably less concentrated than that for private individuals. The “Concentration Ratio” indices are all lower: CR1 is 24% as against 32%, CR4 is 49% against 74%, and CR10 is 68% against 88%. Similarly, the HHI for the corporate market stands at 0.09, against 0.19 in the private individual market. Though the corporate market continues not to be concentrated at present (HHI below 0.1), all the indices over the past year have nevertheless move towards greater concentration. - 63 -
It also worth noting that the top registrar gained 2.7 percentage points over the year, representing most of the gains in market share realised by the top four or the top ten players (between 3 and 4 percentage points). The concentration process is therefore of greatest benefit to the top player, and of much less benefit to the three following players, and to the detriment of the other competitors. The phenomenon is less marked, however, than for the providers operating in the private individual market. Market for .fr domain names in 2010 - Legal entities Parameter 2010 2009 Change Number of registrars 754 824 -8% Number of domain names 1,084,053 921,588 18% Ave. nb domain names / registrar 1,438 1,118 29% Concentration index 2010 2009 Change CR1 24.3% 21.6% 2.7 CR4 48.6% 44.9% 3.7 CR10 67.8% 64.4% 3.3 HHI 0.089 0.074 0.014 The legal entities market concentrated in 2010 but remained “non-concentrated” (HHI < 0.1). Table 4 – Concentration indices for the market for .fr domain names registered by legal entities - 64 -
Overall market (private individuals and legal entities) The distribution of the registrars in relation to the number of domain names managed (including private individuals and legal entities) is similar to that for the corporate market alone. The largest players (between 100 and 1,000 domains and over 1,000 domains) saw slight growth during the year (one and two points) at the expense of the smaller players, reflecting the overall growth in the .fr ccTLD. Ranking of registrars in terms of the number of .fr domain names they manage in July 2010 (for private individuals and legal entities) 1,000 domain names or more; From 1 to 9 domain name(s); 91 registrars; 80 registrars; 10% 12% In July 2010: 765 registrars manage 1,769,128 domain names From 10 to 99 domain names; 308 registrars; From 100 to 999 domain names; 41% 286 registrars; 37% Figure 33 – Ranking of registrars in relation to the total number of .fr domain names The concentration indices for the overall market show intermediate values between those of the individual and corporate markets considered separately, but are closer to the corporate market. The changes in the HHI indicate that the overall market remained moderately concentrated in 2010, while continuing its trend towards concentration. - 65 -
The top registrar has gained about 3 points on 1 year, representing most of the gains in market share of the top four players taken as a whole and more than the top ten. Growth in market share for the leading service provider seems to be to the detriment of the following players, which is already the case for each market taken in isolation. Global market for .fr domain names in 2010 Parameter 2010 2009 Change Number of registrars 765 828 -8% Number of domain names 1,769 128 1,463,349 21% Ave. nb domain names / registrar 2,313 1,767 31% Concentration index 2010 2009 Change CR1 27.3% 24.3% 3.0 CR4 58.3% 54.8% 3.6 CR10 73.6% 71.0% 2.6 HHI 0.118 0.100 0.018 The global market concentrated and remained “moderately concentrated” in 2010 (HHI between 0.1 and 0.18). Table 5 – Concentration indices for the overall market for .fr domain names (private individuals and legal entities included) The figure below shows the top 30 registrars of .fr domain names in volumes of domain names managed (including private individuals and legal entities). The top registrars in terms of volume are widely present on the private individual market, with ratios of the order or 40% or more. Conversely, a dozen of the top 30 providers are almost entirely involved in the corporate market (less than 10% of the private individual market). - 66 -
The growth rates over one year are highly variable, some players posting increases above the average for the ccTLD (21%) and even up to 57%, while others remain stable. Among the main players in these rankings, NordNet has gained one place and Pages Jaunes have gained two since 2009. Top 30 registrars in terms of the number of .fr domain names managed in July 2010 OVH 1&1 267,105 483,233 Gandi 203,543 Amen 77,949 Online 62,336 NordNet 48,238 EuroDNS 45,099 Namebay 44,555 PagesJaunes 35,244 France Télécom 34,240 INDOM 29,921 LWS 20,763 Melbourne IT 17,617 Netissime 16,699 Web Intelligence 13,898 Nameshield 13,309 Mailclub 13,241 Cronon AG 12,632 Viaduc 10,281 United-Domains 9,444 Linkeo 9,302 Hosteur 8,741 Ascio 8,308 Tucows 8,147 NFrance Conseil 7,254 Arsys 7,159 Neuf Cegetel 6,413 Domaine.fr 6,216 Drim 6,056 CSC 5,858 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 400,000 450,000 500,000 Number of domain names managed Figure 34 – Main registrars ranked by the overall number of .fr domain names Changes in the market for registrars of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Changes in the stock of domain names managed The concentration indices (CR1, CR4, CR10 and HHI) all showed a peak at the end of 2000, which seems to have been related to a promotion for the sub-domain “.nom.fr” in December of that year (domain names offered free of charge for one year). The biggest market players would appear to have reaped most of the rewards of this promotion, for their market shares rose and with them – as a direct consequence – the concentration of the overall market. Mechanisms such as mergers and takeovers among market operators may also have been involved. A considerable proportion of the “free” names will not have been renewed afterwards, which would have tended to return the various concentration indices towards their normal levels. - 67 -
The market then gradually concentrated until the end of 2003. The greater flexibility of the Charter in May 2004 (ending the “right to the name”) immediately triggered a process of market de-concentration. Then, in a move in the opposite direction, concentration can be seen to have risen once more up to the time when .fr was first made available to individuals, in June 2006: this will have been due to the arrival of new registrars in the market, selling to the general public and handling large numbers of names. The indices have not stopped rising since then: we are now seeing levels of concentration similar to those observed during the late 2000 peak, but with other registrars in play. Those registrars which had the majority of the market at the start of the decade have been caught up by newcomers who have become active in this market much more recently, especially in the individuals segment after the .fr domain became available to individuals in 2006. Developments in the registration of new domain names The graph below shows a comparison of changes in the HHI concentration indices of the stock of .fr domain names and of new names registered each month. The snapshot concentration figure is distinctly higher for new name registrations that for total name numbers, meaning that the overall market is steadily becoming more concentrated month by month. If the market in terms of the stock of domain names switched in the summer of 2009 to the “moderately concentrated” state, for the past year it has been regularly flirting with the “concentrated” state in terms of creating new names. Change in HHI concentration indices on the stock of .fr domain names and the creation of .fr domain names per month concentrated 0.20 Market HHI for creations of domain name Values of the HHI index (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index) 0.18 Market moderately concentrated 0.16 0.14 0.12 HHI for the stock of domain names 0.10 concentrated Market non 0.08 0.06 08 09 ch 9 10 8 9 09 ay 0 Ap 09 8 8 9 9 Ja 008 9 ne 0 A p 10 08 09 08 09 10 ch 0 08 09 Fe 0 9 00 00 00 1 00 00 00 00 00 1 01 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 ne ne r. r. st st n. ly ly ay ay br ct ct ov pt ec pt ov ec n. br Ju Ju gu gu Ja Ju Ju O O Ju ar M ar Se Se M M Fe N D N D M Au Au M Months Figure 35 – Changes in concentration indices for the registration market of .fr domain names in terms of the stock of names managed, and new names registered - 68 -
As far as the monthly registration of new domain names is concerned, the top player stands out from the crowd by maintaining its fairly steady market share of 35% since late 2008. The next two are around 15% each, and other competitors do not exceed the 6% mark. The direct result is concentration mainly to the benefit of the market leader. It should be noted however that one player on the corporate market has increased its market share in domain name registrations from 2% to 6% in a few months, with the launch of new hosting offers for small and medium size companies. Catchment areas of registrars of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following study analyses the size of catchment areas of registrars of .fr domain names on the markets for private individuals and legal entities (the number of departments covered by the customer base of each provider in metropolitan France). The objective of this analysis is to assess the commercial scope of registrars, with the initial intuition that a small number covers the whole of the national territory and that a large majority has only a regional or local audience. Naturally, the strategies of the registrars will differ according to their catchment area: “global” players will adopt different models to those of “proximity” players, the key to analysis being complemented by the dichotomy between registrars targeting the corporate sector or large accounts, and registrars targeting private individuals and very small companies. - 69 -
Private individual market Among the 82 providers managing over 100 domains on the private individual market, 13% manage local customers limited to one or two regions (less than 10 departments). Conversely, 33% of them have a customer base spread across most of the departments in metropolitan France (more than 85 out of 95). The size of the catchment areas for registrars in the private individual market is closely linked to the volume of domain names managed on this market. The twenty largest providers, each managing more than 2,000 names for private individuals, all have full or near-full national coverage (more than 90 departments). Registrars with smaller portfolios of names have more limited catchment areas, and most of those that manage less than 500 name domains cover less than 50 departments. The rate of statistical correlation between the sizes of the catchment areas and the volumes of names stands at 0.27, reflecting a genuine positive correlation between these two indicators. Distribution of .fr registrars based on the number of domain names they manage and the size of their catchment area (private individual market in July 2010) 100 75 Size of registrar catchment area 50 25 0 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 Number of private individual domain names managed per registrar (log scale) Figure 36 – Relationship between the size of the catchment area and the domain name portfolio of .fr registrars for private individuals - 70 -
Corporate market The proportion of registrars that have a local catchment area of the corporate market seems to be smaller than for the private individual market: only 6% of the 108 providers managing over 500 domains on this market have a customer base located on less than 10 departments (against 13% on the private individual market). Conversely, they are slightly more likely to have a customer base spread across virtually all of metropolitan France (38% against 33% for the private individual market). The size of catchment areas also correlates with the volume of domain names managed on the corporate market, but is less marked than on that for private individuals. Registrars managing over 10,000 names all have national coverage (with the exception of one domainer which is only present in its own department). Providers is smaller size have narrower catchment areas, but with great variability compared with the private individual market. In this way, portfolios with between 500 and 5,000 domains can be managed both by registrars located on very few French departments and other players with much greater national coverage. Distribution of .fr registrars based on the number of domain names they manage and the size of their catchment areas (legal entity market in July 2010) 100 75 Size of registrar catchment area 50 25 0 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 Number of legal entity domain names managed by registrars (log scale) Figure 37 – Relationship between the size of the catchment area and the domain name portfolio of .fr registrars for legal entities - 71 -
The market for ICANN-accredited registrars • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The rest of this chapter is devoted to ICANN-accredited registrars. It is based on the statistics published by Dot and Co21. There were 961 ICANN accredited registrars on 1 September 2010. From less than 400 in late 2004, the number rose sharply in 2005 and 2006 before expanding at a more moderate pace. After a slight decline in 2009, it returned to growth in early 2010 (+4% over the first eight months). The graph below shows the distribution of ICANN-accredited registrars by country. North America takes the lion’s share with nearly three quarters of registrars, nearly 56% of them in the United States alone. France comes ninth, with 15 accredited registrars, or 1.6% of the total number of providers. France has lost two places since 2009, South Korea and the United Kingdom now having two more accredited registrars. In one year, the U.S. fell nearly 3 points (10 registrars less), while conversely new countries have emerged (Netherlands Antilles, Costa Rica, Ghana, Indonesia, Czech Republic, Viet Nam). There are now 65 ICANN-accredited registrars in 65 countries. Distribution of ICANN-accredited registrars per country in August 2010 (according to Dot and Co) Other countries; 126 Spain; 13 France: 1.6% Japan; 13 of ICANN-accredited registrars France; 15 in 2010 Australia; 15 UK; 17 Rep. of Korea; 17 India; 18 China; 20 Germany; 24 USA; 543 Canada; 140 Figure 38 – Distribution per country of ICANN-accredited registrars - 72 -
The distribution of generic domain names in relation to the country of registrar once more shows the United States well in the lead, with nearly 62% of the names. This figure is falling, however (-1 percentage points over the last year, against -2% last year). The proportion of generic names managed in France is roughly 1.8% of the total of such names, and is slightly increasing (+0.2% since 2009). China has a higher annual growth rate: the providers that are established in the country now control 3.6% of the world’s generic domains as against 2.8% one year earlier. Distribution of generic domain names according to the country of the registrar in April 2010 (according to Dot and Co, .com/.net/.org/.biz/.info/.name/.coop/.pro/.mobi/.travel/.cat/.jobs/.asia/.museum/.aero/.tel) Other countries; 7.1% Cayman Islands; 1.1% French registrars: France; 1.8 % 1.8% of generic domain names in 2010 India; 2.5% (against 1.6% in 2009 China; 3.6% and 1.4% in 2008) (+0.9 point) Australia; 5.8% Canada; 8.1% USA; 61.6% (-1.1 point) Germany; 8.2% Figure 39 – Distribution of generic domain names per country of registrar The Go Daddy Company is clearly in the lead, with nearly 30% of the world market, before eNom, Tucows, Network Solution and 1&1 which overtook Melbourne IT last year. Go Daddy is also undergoing spectacular, continuous growth (+2.5 points over one year, 11.5 points over three years). Since 2009, its direct challengers have all lost or just maintained their market share, with the notable exception of Xin Net, which benefits from the dynamism of the Chinese economy and has gained 0.4 points. - 73 -
There is a small minority (2%) of ICANN-accredited registrars managing portfolios with more than a million names, the leader having up to 36 million. Conversely, 45% of the providers have less than 1,000 names each. Ranking of registrars in terms of the number of generic domain names that they managed in April 2010 (according to Dot and Co, .com/.net/.org/.biz/.info/.name/.coop/.pro/.mobi/.travel/.cat/.jobs/.asia/.museum/.aero/.tel) 1,000,000 domain names or more; 18; 2% In April 2010: From 100,000 to 999,999 883 registrars managed domain names; 120,821,830 generic 75; 8% domain names From 10,000 to 99,999 domain names; 133; From 1 to 999 15% domain name(s); 394; 45% From 1,000 to 9,999 domain names; 263; 30% Figure 40 – Ranking of registrars in relation to the total number of generic domain names The concentration indices indicate that the world market leader in generic TLDs (Go Daddy) is slightly more powerful than the market leader in the .fr domain (with a CR1 of 30%, compared with 27%). The other indices, however, are lower on the global market, which appears to be a slightly less concentrated than the .fr market except for the top player (CR4 of 50% against 58%, CR10 of 67% against 74% and HHI of 0.110 against 0.118). The global market for generic TLDs is still in the process of concentration and its status has changed from “non-concentrated” to “moderately concentrated” since last year. As in the case of the market in the .fr domain, the CR1 for the market in generic domains has risen faster in the last year than the CR4 or CR10, reflecting the fact that the market leader is gaining at the expense of its direct competitors. The growth of the top registrar is slightly more marked for .fr domain than for the generic domains (+3 percentage points, against +2.5). With an HHI of 0.110 in 2010, the international market for generic names remains less concentrated than the .fr market (HHI of 0.118). This may be due to the formation of local markets based on the cultures, languages and legal conditions specific to each country, making it more difficult for the major players to obtain complete coverage of the global market compared with the .fr market, which is much more homogeneous in cultural, linguistic and legal terms. - 74 -
World market for generic Top Level Domains (according to Dot and Co) Parameter 2010 2009 Change Number of registrars 883 890 -1% Number of domains 120,821,830 111,223,439 9% Number of domain names per registrar 136,831 124,970 9% Concentration index 2010 2009 Change CR1 29.8% 27.3% 2.5 CR4 49.7% 48.2% 1.6 CR10 66.9% 67.1% -0.1 HHI 0.110 0.097 0.012 The world market for generic extensions in 2010 switched from “non concentrated” to “moderately concentrated” (HHI ≥ 0.1). Table 6 – Concentration indices for the world market in generic domain names Of the 14 French ICANN-accredited registrars in April 2010, four manage more than 100,000 generic names and four others manage 10,000 to 100,000 names. OVH has passed the one million milestone of generic names managed in 2010. It should be noted, however, that these numbers are difficult to interpret because of sub-contracting activities: registrars can hold domain names as sub-contractors for another provider, in which case the names are taken into account in the ICANN statistics for the initial service provider and not for the reseller. French ICANN-accredited registrars in April 2010 (according to Dot and Co) Registrar Number of generic domain names managed OVH 1,030,582 Gandi 695,938 Online 179,864 NordNet 130,440 INDOM 73,258 Netissime 35,304 France Télécom 32,528 Hosteur 17,952 Digitrad 3,357 Acropolis Telecom 3,332 Domaine.fr 1,649 Nameshield 1,183 Mailclub 1,124 Mister Name 48 Table 7 – French ICANN-accredited registrars - 75 -
Registrars that are both ICANN-accredited and .fr providers • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Some registrars are active both in the market for the .fr country domain and as ICANN-accredited registrars in the generic domain market. The crossover affects only a small number of registrars: 55 in all, equivalent to 7% of all ICANN-accredited providers and 6% of AFNIC providers. These registrars, however, have substantial portfolios of names, such that the volume percentages are higher: 78% of the .fr domain names and 22% of gTLDs are managed by providers simultaneously on both markets. The number of registrars present both on the .fr market and on the generic domains market as an ICANN- accredited provider has also been on the rise since 2009, with 4 more registrars, or 8% over one year. These are AFNIC registrars that have become ICANN accredited, ICANN-accredited registrars entering the .fr market, and newly established registrars. The ICANN accreditation status of registrars accredited for .fr strongly correlates with the number of .fr domains they manage: of the top 30 providers (with over 5,000 names), almost three quarters are ICANN accredited. For the 70 following registrars, the ratio falls to 16%, and stands at 7% for all the .fr providers. It appears, therefore, that there is a breakeven point beyond which the costs incurred by ICANN accreditation are justified by the financial and marketing gains involved after achieving that status. - 76 -
Chapter 14 Analysis of the secondary market ● Data source: DN Journal, Sedo (annual report for 2009, quarterly report for Q2-2009, and website). The purpose of this chapter is to review the secondary market in domain names, focusing in particular on the .fr domain (numbers traded and prices charged). The secondary domain name market worldwide (DN Journal) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The DN Journal website publishes a list of major transactions on the secondary market for all of the existing marketplaces22. In the first half of 2010, the name “slots.com” took the lead with an exchange price of $ 5.5 million. Four more names have reached the million-dollar mark over that period (“dating.com”, “photo.com”, “flying.com” and “poker.org”). Among the Top Level Domains in the top 100 published by DN Journal the .com is still way ahead with 77 names. Overall, national TLDs represent 18 sales in the top 100, two of them with .fr (“credit.fr” – which also included the associated web site – and “lundi.fr”). The extreme prices appear to have resumed their growth after a break last year: the record increased 8% and the average for the top 100 names has risen 10% in one year. The rankings for the most expensive country-code Top-level Domains traded between January and August 2010 saw the French domain take the lead with the name “credit.fr” which traded for approximately $ 852,000, far ahead of the following transactions. As last year, the German and British ccTLDs feature most prominently in the top 100, where some twenty ccTLDs are to be found in all. The “marketed” ccTLD .tv (which represents Tuvalu but is sold as “television”) underwent major growth this year, with 14 sales in the top 100 against a single over the same period in 2009. Four names were exchanged under .fr in these rankings against 11 last year. - 77 -
The extreme trading prices for national domains also rose this year after a sharp decline in 2009: the record tripled while the average for the top 100 increased by over 60% year on year. The most expensive national domain names sold between 1 January and 15 August 2010 (public transactions, according to DN Journal) poker.ca; 400,000 $ credit.fr; 851,875 $ o.co; 350,000 $ software.de; 303,182 $ imoveis.com.br; 300,000 $ slots.ca; 206,906 $ free-sms.de; 162,150 $ website.de; 141,610 $ Top Level Domains in the Top 100 Domain nname sold designer.co.uk; 122,080 $ business.tv; 100,999 $ .de (31 domain names) pakistan.de; 87,049 $ .uk (15 domain names) e.co; 81,000 $ .tv (14 domain names) .ca (5 domain names) hi.ru; 80,600 $ .fr , .me , .nl (4 domain names) tvs.co.uk; 75,990 $ .at , .co , .za (3 domain names) lundi.fr; 70,000 $ .it , .se (2 domain names) fly.co.za; 65,000 $ .au , .br , .ch , .cn , .es , .eu , .in , .io , .pl , .ru gold.co.uk; 63,916 $ (1 domain name) pw.ca; 60,000 $ stockcharts.co.uk; 48,000 $ laarzen.nl; 46,125 $ 0$ 100,000 $ 200,000 $ 300,000 $ 400,000 $ 500,000 $ 600,000 $ 700,000 $ 800,000 $ 900,000 $ Sale price (in US dollars) Figure 41 – The most expensive country-code domain names sold on the secondary market Four .fr domain names were included in the top 100 country-code TLDs at the beginning of 2010. Aside from the record sale of “credit.fr” and the associated website, for some € 600,000, the prices of the other three transactions range between € 17,500 and € 50,000 (“lundi.fr”, “grattage.fr” and “everest.fr”). Once again, the sectors of finance and online games are found in these rankings. - 78 -
The secondary domain name market worldwide (Sedo) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following are various statistics published by the Sedo company in its annual analysis of the secondary market for domain names in 200923 and in its analysis of the second quarter of 201024. These figures refer only to domain names traded on the secondary market through the Sedo platform, in the absence of comprehensive statistics for the entire market. Sedo, however, is a major player on the global secondary market for domain names. The secondary market for domain names continued to grow in 2009 on the Sedo platform, although more moderately: the number of names traded rose 5% against 35% in 2008. Average prices were down slightly over one year, all TLDs combined (-2%), so that the financial volume of trading rose only 3% over the year. The .com domain accounts for 44% of the domain names sold on Sedo, followed by .de (Germany) with 18% of the market share. There was less trading on the other Top Level Domains. The French domain is far behind, with some 400 transactions in 2009 (1% of names traded), but its growth is constant (+30% in one year). In terms of the distribution in value of the sales made through Sedo,.com continued to represent the vast majority of sales in 2009, with over 30 million transactions (almost 60% of the platform’s total sales turnover). It is followed in the rankings by.de and .net. The French ccTLD gained two places, overtaking .eu and .info in 2009, posting a sharp rise in transaction volumes to stand at 1.1 million euro, (+35% in one year, when the average growth for all the extensions combined was 3%). Volume of transactions on the Sedo platform per Top Level Domain in 2009 (according to Sedo) .com ; 32,094,851 € .de ; 6,867,671 € .net ; 2,642,498 € .uk ; 1,710,569 € .org ; 1,688,946 € In 2009: Top Level Domain .fr ; 1,118,206 € 54.7 million euros of transactions on Sedo .eu ; 1,005,603 € (+ 3% over one year) .info ; 704,810 € On the .fr TLD: + 35% over one year .es ; 691,595 € .biz ; 367,725 € .at ; 282,822 € 0€ 5,000,000 € 10,000,000 € 15,000,000 € 20,000,000 € 25,000,000 € 30,000,000 € 35,000,000 € Volume of transactions (in euros) Figure 42 – Volumes of transactions per Top Level Domain on Sedo - 79 -
In terms of average prices, the French ccTLD remained the most expensive in 2009 as in 2008, with an average price close to € 3,000. That average price continued to increase slightly over the year (+4%) even though the average price all TLDs combined fell by 2%. The average price for the .biz gTLD almost doubled between 2008 and 2009. Average price of domain names sold on the Sedo platform per Top Level Domain in 2009 (according to Sedo) .fr ; 2,958 € .uk ; 2,216 € .com ; 1,849 € .at ; 1,541 € Top Level Domain .es ; 1,149 € In 2009: .net ; 1,058 € Average sale price .biz ; 1,048 € on Sedo of € 1,416 .org ; 1,031 € (- 2% over one year) .de ; 965 € On the .fr TLD: + 4% over one year .eu ; 722 € .info ; 482 € 0€ 500 € 1,000 € 1,500 € 2,000 € 2,500 € 3,000 € 3,500 € Average price (in euros) Figure 43 – Average price of domain names sold on Sedo, per Top Level Domain - 80 -
Although mean price figures can be distorted by a few transactions at record prices, mean prices are a more reliable indicator of behaviour in ordinary sales. During Q2 2010, the mean price at which .fr domain names changed hands was around $ 900, higher than the medians for other domains. The mean price for .fr remained stable over one year, however, while those for the other TLDs experienced massive growth (from 24% for .com to 84% for .info). Mean price of domain names sold on the Sedo platform during the second quarter of 2010 per Top Level Domain (according to Sedo) .fr ; 904 $ .es ; 616 $ .net ; 581 $ .org ; 530 $ Top Level Domain .com ; 510 $ .uk ; 502 $ .de ; 437 $ .info ; 402 $ .biz ; 380 $ 0$ 100 $ 200 $ 300 $ 400 $ 500 $ 600 $ 700 $ 800 $ 900 $ 1,000 $ Mean price (in US dollars) Figure 44 – Mean prices of domain names sold on Sedo, per Top Level Domain These figures underline the vitality of the secondary market which has taken off fast since 2008, especially for the .fr domain. This is perhaps due to the French TLD catching up somewhat with other TLDs, a higher proportion of the interesting names having changed hands ever since, a phenomenon detected earlier for domains such as .com or .de. Another explanation, which does not exclude the first, could be that French users have become more mature in their perception of the intrinsic value of .fr domain names, and are therefore willing to pay more to acquire them. - 81 -
Secondary market for .fr domain names (Sedo) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following statistics only cover public trading in .fr domain names on the Sedo platform, not the confidential transactions. The annual number of transactions of .fr domain names conducted on Sedo has grown rapidly since 2007. After virtually tripling between 2007 and 2008, it increased by 35% in 2009 to 348 transactions per year and is liable to continue to increase in 2010. Change in the monthly number of transactions involving .fr domain names performed on the Sedo platform since 2004 (according to Sedo, excluding confidential transactions) 70 2010 (as at 31/05) 177 transactions 60 Number of transactions per month 50 2008 2009 258 transactions 348 transactions 40 30 2007 89 transactions 20 2004 2005 2006 11 26 transactions 31 transactions 10 0 10 0 4 09 9 08 06 6 09 9 08 8 8 5 7 6 04 07 05 06 7 07 05 5 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 ay ay ay ay st st ay st ay st st st br ov ov ov ov br ov br br br br ov gu gu gu gu gu gu M M M M Fe M M Fe Fe Fe Fe N Fe N N N N N Au Au Au Au Au Au Months Figure 45 – Monthly figures for transactions in .fr domain names on Sedo The growth of the secondary market on the French country-code Top Level Domain can also be seen in terms of trading volume. The volume realised from January to May 2010 has already exceeded that for the full year of 2009, due to the exceptional sale in January on Sedo (“credit.fr”). After a sharp rise in 2008, the average rates charged on the .fr secondary market calmed down in 2009, returning approximately to € 2,300 per domain (-19% year over year). For the first half of 2010, the average price of .fr domain names stands at € 5,000 due to the record sale in January. This figure is expected to decline throughout the year 2010 but still represents a significant rise year over year. - 82 -
The mean price of sales on Sedo between January and June 2010 was € 650 for the .fr domain, representing a slight decline over the last two years. While 7% of the names fetched over € 5,000, the great majority changed hands at much more reasonable levels: a quarter traded under €500, and nearly 60% at less than € 1,000. Transaction prices for .fr domain names performed on the Sedo platform between January and May 2010, in euros (according to Sedo, excluding confidential transactions) € 5,000 or more; 12 transactions; 7% From January to May 2010: Less than € 500; 44 transactions; 177 transactions 25% for an average price of € 4,950 linked to a single sale (against € 2,250 in 2009) From € 1,000 and a mean price of to € 4,999; 61 transactions; € 650 34% (against € 800 in 2009 and € 1,000 in 2008) From € 500 to € 999; 60 transactions; 34% Figure 46 – Prices of .fr domain names sold on Sedo The most expensive transactions made on the Sedo platform in 2010 for .fr, the terms related to finance, online games or recreation stand out the most. The breakdown by category of .fr domain names for sale on the Sedo marketplace in August 2010 shows that names for the IT, Business-Economy, Leisure and Shopping sectors took the lead. Nearly 15,000 names were on sale in the IT category, compared with only 3,500 ranked as Adult. - 83 -
Part Five: Technologies Chapter 15 DNS Servers ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database 1 July 2010 (number of domains per server and number of servers per domain), operating statistics for authoritative DNS servers managed by AFNIC (monitoring data and traffic analysis via the DNSwitness software platform). The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on the DNS servers that appear in the registrations of .fr domain names (number of servers per domain name, number of domain names per server, and characteristics of servers), as well as data (number and type) on the requests received by the authoritative DNS servers managed by AFNIC. In July 2010, the AFNIC database contained 42,884 separate DNS servers, 14% more than a year earlier. This increase is slightly lower than the year’s growth in the number of .fr domain names (+20%). Specifically, the AFNIC database contained more than 11,000 new servers, while 6,000 had been withdrawn in relation to the figures for July 2009. Number of DNS servers per .fr domain name ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The distribution of the number of DNS servers for .fr domain names shows that a very great majority of the names (nearly 83%) only specify two DNS servers – the minimum required – in their configuration. Some names specify three servers (15%), but configurations offering greater redundancy are much rarer. The maximum number of servers is 8, and the mean is 2.2 servers per name. These figures have changed little since 2009. There was, however, a slight decrease in the percentage of domain names pointing to two DNS servers for the benefit of those who indicate three in their configuration, which was already the trend observed a year earlier. Number of .fr domain names per DNS server ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Nearly half of the DNS servers found in the AFNIC database only support a single .fr domain (representing some 21,000 servers) and approximately 13% manage two. At the other end of the scale, 15% of the DNS servers handle more than ten names: in particular these include registrars’ servers which their customers’ domain names point to by default. In 2010, five servers even managed portfolios with more than 100,000 .fr domain names In one year, the proportion of servers in charge of a single domain grew (+0.8 point), while that of the most important servers declined (-0.6 points). Among the new DNS servers which appeared in 2010, 63% only host a single domain name, while this figure stands at 49% for all the DNS servers in the domain. This means a significant portion of the new DNS servers may correspond to servers run by small organisations or individuals. - 84 -
Requests received by authoritative DNS servers managed by AFNIC ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Details of the .fr domain are made available through a set of authoritative DNS servers for the domain, some of them run by AFNIC itself, and others by separate bodies. AFNIC uses monitoring tools to ensure that the authoritative servers for which it is responsible are functioning properly. The figure below shows changes in the average number of DNS requests received per second by the authoritative servers managed by AFNIC. Over and above seasonal variations (a decrease during the summer and winter holiday seasons), the general trend shows steady growth in the traffic received by all the servers: the annual average rose from 2,700 requests per second in 2008 to 3,800 in the first half of 2010, representing an increase in the volume of requests received by AFNIC servers in 18 months of almost 40%. It should be noted that requests received by the authoritative DNS servers for the .fr domain only account for some of the occasions on which Internet users access .fr domain names. This is because of the use of “cache” functions in recursive DNS servers, meaning that sometimes when a .fr domain is accessed this does not give rise to a specific request to an authoritative server. In addition, the figures given here do not take into account requests received by authoritative .fr domain servers not directly managed by AFNIC. Number of requests received per second since April 2008 by the subset of authoritative DNS servers in the .fr zone managed by AFNIC 6,000 Average for April - December 2008: Average for 2009: Average for early 2010: 2,700 requests per second 3,100 requests per second 3,800 requests per second Number of requests received per second by these servers 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 Trend curve 1,000 0 10 08 09 09 10 9 0 08 10 09 10 08 09 10 08 09 8 9 10 08 09 8 8 8 9 8 9 .0 .1 09 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 ne ne ne ch ch st ay st n. ay ay ly ly ly r. r. r. br br ct ct pt ov ec pt ov ec n. Ap Ju gu gu Ap Ap Ju Ju Ju ar ar Ja Ju Ju M M M Fe Fe O O Se Se Ja N D N D M M Au Au Months Figure 47 – Number of requests received by AFNIC-run authoritative DNS servers for the .fr domain - 85 -
AFNIC has also developed software to detect and analyse DNS traffic, which forms an integral part of the DNSwitness software platform25, and is available under a GPL licence. This software component, known as DNSmezzo, was used for two 24-hour periods in September 2010 to observe the traffic received by one of the authoritative DNS servers for the .fr TLD managed by AFNIC. The analysis of the traffic shows that most of the requests were for IPv4 addresses (type “A”), followed by mail servers (type “MX”). IPv6 addresses (“AAAA”) constitute about 9% of the requests, while the authoritative DNS servers (“NS”) represent approximately 1%. Type of requests received in the .fr zone by an authoritative DNS server managed by AFNIC in September 2010 (two observation periods of 24 h) Other types Authoritative server (NS) 2.6% 0.9% IPv6 address (AAAA) 8.9% IPv4 address (A) E-mail server (MX) 55.1% 32.5% Figure 48 – Type of requests received by an AFNIC-run authoritative DNS server for the .fr domain Furthermore, analysis of this traffic shows that 1.2% of the requests received by the authoritative server managed by AFNIC were conveyed via the IPv6 protocol, against only 0.7% last year. While still low, the percentage of traffic received in IPv6 should continue to grow over time with the gradual introduction of the IPv6 protocol in recursive DNS servers. - 86 -
Chapter 16 Using IPv6 addresses ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database in September 2010 and a search for IPv6 addresses in the DNS using the DNSwitness software platform. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on the use of the IPv6 protocol in the .fr domain, by identifying the number of domain names for which at least one server has an IPv6 address for various services (DNS, e-mail, Web). Procedure used in searching for IPv6 addresses • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • DNSdelve software, the active measurement component of the DNSwitness software platform, automatically collects information from different DNS zones. The software can be used to identify names within a domain compatible with IPv6 for various services. For each “internet.fr” domain name present in the AFNIC database, DNSdelve was used to test for the presence of IPv6 addresses for the following three types of server: • DNS servers specified by registrations of the “NS” type associated with the “internet.fr” domain name, • E-mail servers specified by registrations of the “MX” type associated with the “internet.fr” domain name, • Web servers which might be associated with the “internet.fr” domain name, under the naming conventions “internet.fr”, “www.internet.fr” and “www.ipv6.internet.fr”. IPv6-compatible .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The figure below shows the percentage of .fr domain names whose DNS, e-mail and web servers indicate at least one IPv6 address in the DNS. The results show that in 2010 more than 6% of .fr domain names are IPv6-compatible for DNS and nearly 1% for the Web, while the proportion for mail servers is much lower (0.3%). These figures have increased significantly over the last year for e-mail and DNS services, but have sharply declined in percentage terms (but not in absolute numbers) for web servers. This decline indicates that the number of domain names for which the web server involved indicates an IPv6 address is growing less rapidly than the total number of domains using the French TLD. This could be partially explained by the registration over the past year of new .fr domain names associated with registrar parking pages pending the effective on-lining of the dedicated websites, and the fact that these parking pages are not necessarily accessible in IPv6. This could also be partially explained by the unavailability of or lack of awareness about IPv6 among web hosts of newly registered domain names. - 87 -
These percentages remain very low, however, and are of concern given the near-depletion of IPv4 addresses, which some experts forecast for the beginning of 2012. Percentage of IPv6-compatible .fr domain names in September 2010 per service 7% + 1.2 over one year 6% 5% Percentage of domain names 4% 6.7% 6.4% 3% 2% 1% - 1.4 over one year + 0.15 over one year + 0.04 over one year 0.9% 0.30% 0.08% 0% DNS Web E-mail At least 1 service All services Services associated with domain names Figure 49 – Percentage of IPv6-compatible .fr domain names When an IPv6 address is published in the DNS for a given domain name, the DNSdelve software can also be used to test whether the corresponding server is actually accessible in IPv6. The analysis conducted in September 2010 showed that 98% of the web servers advertised as being IPv6 compatible were effectively accessible with this protocol, as were 71% of the e-mail servers advertised as being IPv6 compatible. The change over time of IPv6 compatibility shows that it increased significantly for DNS servers in 2009 to reach 7.5% of the .fr domains before slightly eroding in 2010. For web servers, the trend has been towards decreasing percentages since the spring of 2009, while the rate of IPv6 compatibility for e-mail servers is slowly improving. - 88 -
International comparisons • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • In April 2010, the OECD published a report entitled “Measuring Deployment of IPv6”26, to which AFNIC contributed well as many other market players around the world (TLD registries, Internet access providers, content providers, DNS operators, etc.). The data provided by AFNIC within this framework were collected through its DNSwitness software platform. Few registries provide figures about the deployment of IPv6 in their Top Level Domain. For several years, the Japanese registry JPNIC has provided statistics on IPv6-compatible DNS, e-mail and web servers under the .jp TLD27. In September 2010, 70,000 domain names using that domain indicated an IPv6 address for their DNS servers, as well as 40,000 for their e-mail and web servers. The .jp domain containing about 1.2 million name domains, the percentages of IPv6-compatible names for the Japanese ccTLD stands at 5.8% for DNS servers, and at 3.3% for e-mail and web servers. The .fr TLD is a little ahead of .jp in terms of DNS servers (6.4% against 5.8%) but seriously lags behind in terms of web servers (0.9 against 3.3) and especially e-mail servers (0.3 against 3.3). On the other hand, .fr is far ahead of South Korea on this criterion: only 0.01% of the .kr domain names were IPv6 compatible in February 2010 according to the KISA / KRNIC registry (or 141 out of approximately 1.1 million). Another indicator to consider is the percentage of requests received by the authoritative DNS servers for a domain via the IPv6 protocol. This statistic provides information mainly on the deployment of IPv6 in the recursive name servers of Internet service providers and companies, but gives no indication of its deployment on the computers of Internet users. At year-end 2009, 0.9% of the requests received by the authoritative “a.nic.fr” server for the French domain were carried by the IPv6 protocol, a figure which had increased to 1.2% by September 2010. This was only the case for 0.42% of the requests received on average in 2009 by one of the authoritative servers for the Korean domain .kr. As for the Japanese ccTLd, in September 2010, the ratio ranged between 0.6 and 0.8% of the .jp domain names. - 89 -
Part Six: Uses Chapter 17 Use of .fr domain names on the Web ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 and exhaustive analysis of the HTTP headers returned by Web servers using automated scripts; random sampling of the AFNIC database, and manual browsing of the websites associated with the domain names in the sample. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on the uses of .fr domain names on the Web: response from the server (no response, success or redirected site), and type of site (professional site, personal site, parked site, etc.). Responses from web servers associated with .fr domain names ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• An automatic analysis of HTTP headers returned by web servers was performed on all the .fr domain names present in the AFNIC database in July 2010. For each “internet.fr” domain name, a script sends an HTTP request of the “HEAD” type to the web server address “www.internet.fr” then waits for the response. The HTTP response received is then analysed in order to obtain various parameters: • The HTTP return code, • Any redirection (“Location:” header), • The server software used (“Server:” header). The figure below shows the kinds of HTTP return code received. For the entire .fr domain, the requests were successfully returned in 6 cases out of 10; they resulted in a redirect in nearly a quarter of the domain names, and 9% of them did not produce any response within the set time limit. Compared with the study conducted last year, redirects significantly increased with 6 points more over one year to the detriment of non-responses (-6 points). This development seems primarily due to a technical change in the technical configuration of a major registrar of .fr domain names, for which a large part of the domain names in 2009 which resulted in a lack of response this year to lead to a redirect to a default page of the webmail type. In addition, the success rate slightly increased (+1 point). - 90 -
In all, the proportion of domain names leading to an effective site (direct or by redirect) now stands at 85% of the French domain, up 8 points since 2009. This proportion reflects the high utilization of the ccTLD, which seems to be much less subject to purely defensive registration strategies than the others. Category of HTTP return code returned by the web servers associated with .fr domain names active in July 2010 Server error; 2% 85% of domain names lead Client error; 4% to an effective website (against 77% in 2009) No response from server; 9% (- 6 points over one year) Redirect: 23% (+ 6 points over one year) Success; 62% Figure 50 – Categories of response codes returned by web servers associated with .fr domain names The figure below indicates which domains were used by redirecting websites. The domains most commonly redirected to were .com (in 32% of the cases), .net (27%), and .fr (20%). In addition, the redirect is located on the same server in 14% of the cases (URL with the same hostname and relative URL), the other TLDs forming a large minority. In all, 34% of the redirects remain within the .fr domain. - 91 -
Over one year, .net has increased dramatically in the rankings (from 7% to 27%). This is primarily due to a change in configuration of one of the main registrars as mentioned above: the default holding page of this provider, which is located under .net, now appears in redirects for 100,000 .fr domain names, compared with 10,000 last year alone. This technical change has the effect of mechanically drowning out the percentages of the other TLDs, except for redirects to the same domain name which grew strongly over one year (from 5% to 9%). Top Level Domain used by HTTP redirects returned by webservers associated with .fr domain names active in July 2010 Other redirects; 4% 34% of redirects .org ; 3% remain under .fr Relative URL; 5% URL using the same .com ; 32% domain name; 9% .fr ; 20% .net ; 27% Figure 51 – Top Level Domains used for redirects associated with .fr domain names Apache freeware is still in the lead for software most frequently used by web servers associated with .fr domain names, with more than 80% of the sites, followed by Microsoft IIS server with 7%. Over a year, Apache has further increased its lead by 3 points on the French domain, to the detriment of IIS. Types of website associated with .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • A random sample of 1,000 .fr domain names was extracted from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010. These 1,000 domain names were then analysed by staff who visited their associated websites during August 2010 (addresses of the type “www.internet.fr”). - 92 -
The website types distinguished in this study were as follows: • No response from server: the web server associated with the domain name did not respond, or sent an HTTP error message, • Site suspended: a message on the site indicates that it is temporarily unavailable, • Site empty: the web page returned is either empty or matches the default page of a content management platform, • Holding page: the site has been parked with a registrar, hosting company or web agency, • Sponsored links: the site uses commercial links of the “Pay Per Click” kind, such as those of Sedo, NameDrive (NDParking), Google (AdSense) or Yahoo! Search Marketing, • Business site: the site appears to be business-related (firms, associations, public bodies, or indeed self-employed individuals), • Personal site: the site is personal in character (personal blog, family website, community website, photo-sharing website, etc.), • Type unknown: it was not possible to determine the website’s place in this classification (password protected access to the website’s content, for example). On ranking the random sample of 1,000 .fr domain names by type of website, we found that business websites account for almost half (48%), with personal sites far behind (less than 3%) Holding pages represent 23% of the domain names studied and nearly 5% point to sponsored link pages. Finally, 15% of names generated no response from the web server associated, and 4% of the sites were empty. The confidence interval at 95% was approximately plus or minus 3 points of the percentage for professional sites, lower values being obtained for the other ratios. Since the study last year, domain names redirecting to a holding page rose sharply (from 17% to 23%). This trend is probably related, first to the current dynamics of creating new domain names under .fr, new names temporarily redirecting to holding pages until their owner has developed specific content, and partly to a change in the technical configuration of a major registrar already mentioned above, which now redirects more systematically to a holding page by default. Non-responses significantly decreased (-5 points), as a direct consequence of this technical change. Finally, professional websites continue to increase their lead (+2 points over one year). The very low percentage of personal sites (less than 3%) may seem surprising, a priori, while the proportion of private owners continues to grow and is approaching 40% of the .fr domain. There are several possible explanations. Firstly, a number of sites of the sample studied were registered by individuals but for business purposes (professional artists, independent consultants, etc.): it is possible that the interest of private individuals for .fr domain names is reflected more in sites related to their professions than by web sites for purely personal or family purposes. On the other hand, the recent success of social networks such as Facebook may have deterred some individuals holding .fr domain names to create their own website in favour of a profile on a social network, the individuals then using their domain name in order to build lists of personalised e-mail addresses. - 93 -
Types of websites related to .fr domain names active in August 2010 (Analysis of a random sample of 1,000 domain names) Site closed; 0.8% Unknown type of website; 1.2% In August 2010: Personal site; 2.7% Empty site; 4.0% 51% of the sites have specific content (+ 2% over one year) Page of sponsored links; 4.8 % 28% of the sites are parked (+ 5% over one year) No response from server; 15.1 % Professional site; 48.1% Holding page; 23.3% Figure 52 – Types of website associated with .fr domain names Identifying the characteristics of websites associated with the domain names of the sample shows that 4% of the names in the sample were on sale at the time of the study, whereas this figure was only 2% last year. This development is to be compared with the dynamics observed in recent years on the secondary market for .fr domain names. In addition, 4% of the websites with specific content were in the form of a blog and only 1.5% of business sites were of a pornographic nature, these percentages have changed little over one year. Characteristics of websites related to .fr domain names active in August 2010 (analysis of a random sample of 1,000 domain names) Characteristic Percentage Domain name for sale 14% of parked sites (4% of all domain names) Site under construction 3.5% of professional and personal sites Blog type site 4% of professional and personal sites XXX Adult website 1.5% of professional sites (0.7 % of all domain names) Table 8 – Characteristics of websites associated with .fr domain names - 94 -
Chapter 18 Perception of .fr domain names ● Data source: AFNIC/20 Minutes opinion surveys (2007) and AFNIC / Metro Panel opinion surveys (2008, 2009, 2010). The purpose of this chapter is to provide a summary of the main results from a number of opinion surveys commissioned by AFNIC since 2006 concerning the perception and uses of domain names in France: The 2010 survey was conducted from 3 June to 15 June 2010 by Metro Panel, based on an online survey with 555 respondents28. Due to the surveys’ circumstances, the panels used in these studies consisted of online readers of the newspapers “Metro” and “20 Minutes”: they are not necessarily representative of the whole French population. They do however provide a reliable picture of the online population – the one likely to be in contact with domain names, either as web users or as holders of names. Perception of the .fr domain • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The opinion survey conducted in 2010 showed a marked preference among French people for .fr domain names. The .fr ccTLD mainly evokes attachment to the French territory for 78% of the respondents, while only 6% think that it is a TLD like any other. An overwhelming majority also stated they spontaneous searched for the website of a French company under .fr (76% of panel members). On the other hand, more than one in two respondents considers that the prospects for development of .fr in the medium to long term are quite good, against 33% who are neutral. Finally, if they had to choose a single domain, 62% of respondents would opt for the national ccTLD. - 95 -
Perception of the .fr Top Level Domain in 2010 (AFNIC / Metro Panel opinion survey) For me, .fr mainly evokes… A connection 78% with France 15% A good means of contacting French people 6% A Top Level Domain like any other I would spontaneously look for the site of a French company under the Top Level Domain... Answers given by respondents in the survey 76% .fr 16% .com 8% A Top Level Domain other than .fr and .com If I had to choose a single Top Level Domain, I would opt for… 62% .fr 23% .com 7% .net 6% .eu 2% Another Top Level Domain In my opinion, the outlooks for the development of .fr in the medium/long term are… 51% Quite good, it's the benchmark for contacting French people .com 33% Relatively neutral, there is a lot of competition from the other Top Level Domains 2% Rather poor, it doesn't mean much 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Percentage of replies Figure 53 – Perception of the .fr domain - 96 -
Values associated with the .fr domain ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The .fr domain is primarily associated in these respondents’ minds with being a French speaker (67%), and with values connected with the idea of a national community (sense of belonging 30%, closeness 20%). This top trio of values associated with the national extension has remained unchanged for years, with percentages of responses that have remained fairly stable over time. Other values are much less often cited by the panel. Values associated with the .fr Top Level Domain in 2010 (AFNIC / Metro Panel opinion survey) French language; 67% Belonging; 30% Values cited by survey respondents Proximity; 20% Usability; 8% Availability; 8% Originality; 6% Equality; 3% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Percentage of replies Figure 54 – Values associated with the .fr domain - 97 -
Expectations associated with acquiring .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Respondents are mostly aware of the possibility of registering .fr domain names for private individuals (71% in 2010 against 63% in 2007), the information being transmitted mainly via the Internet today rather than the media or one’s acquaintances. However, only one out of two respondents was able to cite the names of providers, and the confusion between ISPs and registrars is still evident. The tariff is the main criterion at play in the decision to acquire an .fr domain name, followed closely by the existence of a particular need (such as creating a blog or an e-commerce website) and the opportunity of addressing a French audience. This is also the rate that is cited by 56% of the panel as the first criterion in choosing a registrar, far ahead the clarity of their offers or the simplicity of the registration interfaces. In addition, seven out of ten people believe that a domain name should cost less than € 20. Finally, half the panel expects advice or support from their provider. Expectations associated with the acquisition of a .fr domain name in 2010 (AFNIC / Metro Panel opinion survey) Are aware of the possibility of registering a .fr for individuals 71% 50% are capable of citing one or more service My motivations for registering an .fr domain name would be… 32% The price 28% A specific need (e-commerce, blog, etc.) Answers given by respondents in the survey 26% The need to address a French public 23% The intuitive nature of the domain 20% Internet publication of content in French My selection criteria for a service provider are… 56% The price 33% The clarity of the offer 30% The simplicity of the registration interface 29% My trust in the service provider 20% The related services 18% The reputation of the service provider A reasonable price for a .fr is… 70% 20 euros or less 20% 20 to 40 euros 10% Over 40 euros 50% Expect advice or support 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Percentage of replies Figure 55 – Expectations associated with acquiring .fr domain names - 98 -
Acquisition of .fr domain names ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Some respondents had already registered personal domain names (15%), usually as part of a package with the provider’s other services (74%). The rate of satisfaction with the registration process is unequivocal (99%). As for the reasons that might induce respondents to give up their domain name or to change providers for its management, once again the tariff leads, with 60% of responses. The quality of the services provided also seems a significant factor in assessment, being cited by nearly half of the panel. In order to improve the legibility of registrars’ offers, in late 2009 AFNIC began discussing drafting a report on the service quality of providers, designed to allow holders or prospective holders, based on quantifiable and objective criteria, to have a clear and independent vision of the performance and market positioning of registrars for the .fr ccTLD. Process of acquiring an .fr domain name in 2010 (AFNIC / Metro Panel opinion survey) 15% Have already registered an .fr domain name as a private individual Have registered the domain 70% name as part of a service package 99% Were satisfied by The factors that could cause me to retain or abandon my .fr are… the registration process Answers given by respondents in the survey 60% The price 34% The relation with the service provider 26% Its use 23% The visibility it provides 16% The notion of identity 11% The choice of the offer The reasons that could make me change providers are… 60% The price 46% The service quality 20% Competitive offers that correspond better to my expectations 17% The offer 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Percentage of replies Figure 56 – Acquisition of .fr domain names - 99 -
Use of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • More than half of the respondents holding an .fr domain name on their own behalf use it to create customised e-mail addresses, more than to online web sites or personal pages. The use of name domains as a carrier of e-mail has also sharply risen for two years (17% in 2008, 36% in 2009 and 56% this year). One reason could be the success of social networking platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, which, by facilitating the on-lining of information without requiring a personal domain name, leaves the field open for other uses. Among the supplementary services that respondents expect in priority, in addition to a domain name, those related to privacy and security seem to be acclaimed in particular. For example, the protection of personal data (anonymous Whois service, included by default for private individuals under .fr) is cited by more than one in two, and services of the anti-virus or anti-spam type by 36% them. The implementation of customised e-mail this year arrives in third place in the responses. - 100 -
Chapter 19 Disputes over domain names in France ● Data source: AFNIC, WIPO The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on disputes concerning domain names in France: disputes concerning the .fr country-code Top Level Domain, and disputes concerning other TLDs when one of the two parties is located in France. Disputes over .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Disputes concerning .fr domain names may be handled by means of various procedures, allowing for a graduated response: • The opportunity for a third party to contact the administrative contact of a domain name with restricted publication (i.e. personal information are not published in Whois directory), without disclosing their identity or guaranteeing that this person will respond, • Occasional post-registration checks to ensure that the name complies with the domain’s rules, either at AFNIC’s initiative or at the request of a third party with a legitimate reason for enquiring, without disclosing who is involved (Article 17 of the Charter), • Dispute resolution procedure based on third-party claims to resolve obvious breaches of the provisions of the Decree of 6 February 2007 (Decree / Order covering French TLDs management), without disclosing who is involved (the PREDEC procedure), • Disclosing, at the request of a third party, the name and other details of an individual holder registered under restricted publicity, if a protected mark has been reproduced exactly or nearly so (typosquatting, dotsquatting, etc.), • Disclosing a name holder’s contact details following a court judgement, • Blocking by AFNIC of domain names (Article 20 of the Charter), • ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) procedure by expert’s decision, administered by the Arbitration and Mediation Centre of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), • Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) by online recommendation, administered by the Paris Centre for Mediation and Arbitration (CMAP), • Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) by mediation, administered by the Internet Rights Forum (FDI = Forum des droits sur l’internet), in the case of .fr domain names registered by individuals (www.mediateurdunet.fr), • Legal proceedings before the competent court. The details of these various procedures are available online on the AFNIC website29. - 101 -
The following figure shows the change in the number of procedures for handling disputes opened per month, in the case of procedures carried out directly by the AFNIC. The PREDEC procedure has been used consistently since its inception in July 2008, indicating that it probably meets the expectations of a number of actors such as rights holders. Its average frequency of use is about 6 procedures opened per month over the past year. Procedures to waive anonymity (at the request of a third party or subsequent to a court order) are the most frequently used, and are also very stable over time, with some thirty procedures a month on average. Updates to the Whois database and eligibility checks vary considerably with time. Change in number of procedures performed by AFNIC as part of disputes over .fr domain names 140 Establishment of the PREDEC procedure PREDEC procedure 120 Update the Whois database Number of procedures initiated per month Waive anonymity 100 Check eligibility 80 60 40 20 0 08 8 9 06 08 09 8 10 6 7 8 09 06 07 08 6 9 6 07 06 09 7 9 07 0 7 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .1 .0 st ne st r. r. ne st r. r. ne st r. ne ct ct ec ct ct br ec ec br ec br br br Ap Ap Ap Ap gu Ap gu gu gu O O O O Ju Ju Fe Ju Fe Ju D Fe Fe D D Fe D Au Au Au Au Months Figure 57 – Changes in the number of proceedings dealt with by AFNIC concerning disputes over .fr domain names ADR-type procedures are relatively few (three per month on average over the past year), and the overwhelming majority are dealt with by the WIPO. It should be noted that these figures are the procedures that the AFNIC is aware of, and does not necessarily cover all the disputes concerning the .fr ccTLD. The number of .fr domain names involved in an alternative dispute resolution procedure has remained fairly stable over time: there were on average over the past year about twenty names subject to the ADR procedure held by legal entities and about fifteen for names held by individuals. - 102 -
On one year from June 2009 to June 2010, AFNIC received 74 claims under the PREDEC procedure (procedure for resolving cases of obvious violation of the provisions of the Decree of 6 February 2007)30. The vast majority of disputes concerned intellectual property rights, while some concerned the names of institutions (mostly common names). In two thirds of the cases, the decisions handed down by AFNIC concluded in the transfer of the domain name in question to the claimant, and in the dismissal of the claim in one third of the cases. This procedure now appears to have become customary among law firms and intellectual property consultants, and an indispensable part of the French legal landscape, as has the ADR procedure. Statistics on the procedure for resolving cases of obvious breaches of the provisions of the Decree of 6 February 2007 (PREDEC), between June 2009 and June 2010 PREDEC claims handled by AFNIC Number of claims received 74 Number of decisions handed down by AFNIC 73 Article of the Decree mentioned in claims Article R.20-44-43 (names of Fr. institutions and officials) 9 Article R.20-44-45 (intellectual property rights) 63 Article R.20-44-46 (family names) 2 Decisions handed down by AFNIC Transmission 49 Withdrawal 1 Rejection 23 Table 9 – Statistics on the PREDEC procedure .fr domain names that have been the subject of PREDEC proceedings over the past year include the names of companies or brands (3 Suisses, Auchan, Bouygues Telecom, Bred, Caisse d’Epargne Duracell, Gaz de France, GFI Informatique, LDLC.com, Leclerc, Orange, OVH, PagesJaunes, RATP, Renault, Simyo) and names of municipalities (Chantérac Maurepas, Méricourt, Nemours, Risoul, Velaux) or public institutions (Tribunal administratif [Administrative Tribunal]). Finally, the names blocked by AFNIC oscillated around 1,500 for corporations and 150 for private individuals, with a few occasional peaks in 2010. - 103 -
UDRP disputes handled by WIPO • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following results are derived from statistics provided by the Arbitration and Mediation Center of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) on procedures of the UDRP type (Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy)31. They only concern procedures of this type brought before this body, given that disputes about the different Top Level Domains can also be treated with other procedures and by other agencies, such as the Paris Mediation and Arbitration Centre and the Forum of Internet Rights for .fr, or ADNDRC (Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre), ACC (Czech Arbitration Court) and NAF (National Arbitration Forum) for generic TLDs. The overwhelming majority of domain names involved in UDRP proceedings handled by WIPO is logically under .com, the leader in terms of the numbers of domains registered, with nearly 4,000 names involved in a dispute settlement procedure in 2009. It is followed by .net, .org and .info (between 100 and 200 domains each). As for .fr, only 43 domain names were subject to a WIPO UDRP procedure in 2009. The changes over time in the number of names involved in this procedure vary considerably from one year to the next, with marked peaks in 2000, 2005 and 2009 for .com. Change in the number of domain names involved in a UDRP at WIPO, by Top Level Domain (according to WIPO) 4,000 Number of domain names subject to a UDRP procedure 3,500 3,000 .com 2,500 .net .org 2,000 .info .fr 1,500 .mobi .biz 1,000 500 0 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Years Figure 58 – Changes in the number of domain names involved in WIPO proceedings - 104 -
The ratio of the number of domain names involved in UDRP proceedings at WIPO for 100,000 registered domain names fell sharply for .fr between 2008 and 2009 (from 7.5 to 2.7 per 100,000 disputed domains). The French domain is well behind the .com and .mobi gTLDs, but has stayed ahead of the other generic domains .net, .org, .info and .biz. This sharp decline in UDRP proceedings concerning .fr could be the result of the success of the PREDEC procedure established by AFNIC in 2009 and represents an interesting alternative for rights holders. The following figure shows the distribution for .fr domain names of UDRP procedures handled at the WIPO according to the final decisions rendered by the experts at the conclusion of these procedures in 2009. It can be seen that a majority of the disputes ended in favour of the claimants: two thirds of the procedures lead into effect to a transfer of the disputed domain names. The procedure resulted in no further action in 22% of the cases, for example as a result of an amicable agreement between the parties. Finally the claim was rejected in 12% of the cases, the defendant then being entitled to keep the domain name. Compared with the 2008 figures, the cases of transfer have increased dramatically (+10 points), to the detriment of cases resulting in no further action. Classification of UDRP cases handled by WIPO on .fr domain names according to the decision handed down, in 2009 (according to WIPO) In 2009: Claim rejected 41 decisions were handed down 5 decisions 12% by the WIPO further to UDRP procedures involving .fr domain names Filed 9 decisions 22% Referred 27 decisions 66% Figure 59 – Decisions resulting from WIPO proceedings concerning .fr domain names - 105 -
.fr domain names that led to a UDRP decision at the WIPO in the first half of 2010 concern large French or foreign companies (Air France, CIC, Crédit Mutuel, Duracell, LEGO, Mazars, PagesJaunes, Viapresse.com, etc.). The figures below give a breakdown per country of origin of the claimants and defendants involved in UDRP proceedings handled by WIPO between 1999 and 2010. The USA has by far the greatest share in both figures, due to its predominance on the Internet. France accounts for some 11% of the complainants and 3% of the defendants: it would appear therefore that French firms are more often victims than perpetrators of cybersquatting activities. This figure of 11% of complaints concerning generic Top Level Domains by French organisations should be compared with that of 2.6% for names registered in France under these domains. The contrast highlights the tendency of French firms to take legal action rather than conduct defensive registrations beforehand. They can accordingly be seen to register fewer names than their counterparts in other countries, but to be more vigilant over infringements of their trademarks in the sphere of domain names. Classification of UDRP cases handled by WIPO between 1999 and August 2010 by country of claimant (according to WIPO) Brazil; 1.0% India; 1.0% Other countries; The claimaints are French 8.9% Japan; 1.1% in 10.9% of the UDRP Sweden; 1.6% procedures handled by WIPO Denmark; 1.6% Australia; 1.7% Canada; 1.9% Netherlands; 2.2% USA; 41.8% Italy; 3.4% Spain; 4.5% Switzerland; 5.3% Germany; 5.7% UK; 7.4% France; 10.9% Figure 60 – Countries of origin of most defendants involved in WIPO proceedings - 106 -
If French players are less often defendants than claimants, their weight in litigation as defendants (3.3%) remains higher than the weight of the names registered in France for generic domains (2.6%). This difference might lead one to suspect that there are professional cybersquatters to be found in France. In addition, cases of disputes in which the defendant is Chinese rose sharply last year (+0.7 points accumulated since 2009), indicating a growing concentration of cases of cybersquatting of domain names in China. Classification of UDRP cases handled by WIPO between 1999 and August 2010 by country of the defendant (according to WIPO) The defendants are French in Other countries; 17.0% 3.3% of the UDRP procedures handled by WIPO. Bahamas; 1.0% Panama; 1.1% Turkey; 1.2% USA; 37.7% Italy; 1.4% Switzerland; 1.4% Russia; 1.5% Germany; 1.6% India; 1.6% Netherlands; 2.0% Australia; 2.4% France; 3.3% Rep. of Korea; 3.6% Canada; 4.4% UK; 8.4% Spain; 4.5% China; 5.9% Figure 61 – Countries of origin of most defendants involved in WIPO proceedings Regarding the language used in UDRP cases handled by WIPO, English is widely predominant (more than 8 out of 10 procedures). In 2009, about 4% of UDRP cases used French, up 0.4 points year on year. There was also a marked increase in Spanish (+1.2 point) to the detriment of the English language (-2.3). - 107 -
Part Seven: Conclusions Chapter 20 Market trends and prospects The purpose of this chapter is to provide a review of the past year and offer an analysis of the trends and prospects for the French domain name industry with a particular focus on the .fr Top Level Domain. Review of the year ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• On 2 March 2010, AFNIC was designated by the French Minister of Industry as the registry for the .fr. contry-code Top Level Domain, following a call for applications published on 15 January 2009 for a period of seven years32. This decision reinforces the development policy for the TLD which began several years and places the .fr today as the first choice for French users. The contractual framework that accompanied this designation identifies several structural changes to the ways in which the domain is managed: • An easing of registration requirements for the .fr TLD (opening to French citizens living abroad, and then to individuals and organisations domiciled within the European Union), • Actions designed to improve the transparency and clarity of offerings to end-users (special status for registrars, Quality of Service Report and rates), • Greater contribution to research and development, • And increased involvement in security (its own Anycast cloud, data escrow on a secure site, establishment of a Business Continuity Plan, etc.). The .fr Top Level Domain was opened to the French citizens residing overseas in March 2010: French citizens living abroad can now register domain names of their choice without having to prove they have an address in France. To lighten the geographic audits of holders, no new technical test is now performed further to the registration request, it being possible to trigger a verification of the holder’s eligibility at a later date further to a complaint from a third party, or by means of random audits. In terms of quality of service, starting in July 2010 AFNIC will publish a monthly dashboard on the quality of its services, with indicators measuring the achievement of its various activities (DNS service, registration service, customer service). Moreover, AFNIC carried out a satisfaction survey of its registrars in December 2009 in order to assess the quality of its services. The responses reflected a good overall satisfaction rate (7.1 out of 10, up 0.4 points from February 2009), in particular those concerning the relationship between the providers and the registry, the available procedures and registration interfaces. In terms of communication, in September 2009 AFNIC launched a communication campaign entitled “.fr, and that’s the bottom line!” (“Le .fr, un point c’est tout !”) targeting the written press, web and television audiences, designed both for private individuals and legal entities. - 108 -
In terms of security, the root zone for the .fr and .re ccTLDs using the DNSSEC protocol was signed on 14 September 2010. The DNSSEC protocol (for “DNS Security Extensions”) provides greater security for the DNS against cache poisoning attacks. The attacks are designed to capture and divert DNS requests without users realising it, the risk being that they disclose personal data in the belief that they are on the legitimate site of the victim of the attack. After the discovery in 2008 of the “Kaminsky flaw”, which facilitates such attacks, many registries have decided to accelerate the work already under way on implementing DNSSEC. The global DNS root zone was signed by ICANN and VeriSign in July 2010 and the .fr TLD is now one of the fifteen Top Level Domains for which the zones have been signed. DNS security, however, is based on a chain of trust between all the stakeholders involved and for this reason requires multi-party cooperation. The deployment of DNSSEC on AFNIC servers must now be pursued by the managers of DNS servers among the registrars, ISPs and corporate users. AFNIC will provide awareness training with that objective in mind. In addition, a new version of the ZoneCheck software, which ensures the quality and stability of a domain name by checking its correct technical configuration, has been available since late September with DNSSEC testing features. To enhance the performance and security of its DNS infrastructure, in January 2010 AFNIC also deployed its own “anycast” cloud, which distributes the authoritative server function on a set of geographically remote physical servers. While maintaining its global coverage with some 60 nodes, AFNIC has installed new DNS servers in several locations, including Lyon (Rézopole / Lyonix) and Reunion Island, with Brussels and Paris to come in the near future. Outlooks ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Since the surprise announcement by ICANN in 2008 to liberalise the process of creating new Top Level Domains, the delays have continued to accumulate. The latest version of the Applicant Guidebook, however, should be finalised in late 2010, thereby allowing new TLDs to emerge in mid 2011. There is no shortage in ideas, with some 200 new domains proposed to represent a city, region, community or business. It should be recalled in this connection that in September 2009 the city of Paris chose the AFNIC-CORE consortium to be the technical partner for its .paris domain project. In parallel, an expedited review process has already enabled a number of countries to obtain an internationalised TLD from ICANN, an equivalent of the name of the country in its national characters (including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Russia). A major change in the rules for registration of the .fr will be held in late 2011 with its opening to the European Union. Against this background, from July to September 2010 AFNIC carried out a large-scale public consultation to clarify the conditions for opening the .fr TLD to European companies and private individuals residing within the European Union. This development could eventually lead to significant changes in the structure of the market for .fr registrars, if new major European providers decide to enter the market after it opens. - 109 -
In order to improve the transparency and readability of registration offers for .fr domain names, in early 2011, AFNIC will introduce a Quality of Service Report on registrars. Carried out by a neutral, independent party, the report, which will be based on a questionnaire and a series of technical indicators, should provide existing and prospective holders with a clear idea of the performance and market positioning of the various providers. In addition, AFNIC will establish a certification for registrars in the form of a differentiation status enabling them to highlight their expertise. On a broader level, AFNIC continues to be involved in discussions on technical and organisational developments for the Internet. In its contribution of July 2009 to the public consultation on the “Future Internet” organised by the department of the French Secretary of State in charge of Strategic Planning and the Development of the Digital Economy, AFNIC identified several priorities: building a global communications infrastructure based on open standards and interoperable systems, the need for incremental research with a strong experimental component, and the organisation of French research on the Internet of the future in the form of a local ecosystem fully integrated at the global level. Finally, AFNIC is also continuing its research and development work, for example in the field of the Internet of Things, with the establishment of a “federated ONS” platform to delegate the management of object naming between multiple stakeholders as part of a new model of decentralised governance. - 110 -
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About AFNIC AFNIC is a non-profit association (under the 1901 Act) set up by the French authorities in December 1997 to manage the .fr and .re, two Internet Top Level Domains for French territories (France and Reunion Island). AFNIC’s members include individuals and legal entities, five of whom are appointed by public authorities (two by INRIA for historical reasons, two by the French Industry Ministry and one by the French Research Ministry). The other five members are elected from among registrars (two), users’ representatives (two) and the International College (one). AFNIC works to encourage growth of the .fr domain by establishing flexible rules and facilitating automation of the registration process, while still making sure that all parties are in a position to insist on their rights. This objective is allied to a cost-conscious charging system which has enabled AFNIC to cut its fees to € 4.80, under a third of the € 15 charged in 2002. Thanks to its expertise in DNS and Internet technologies, AFNIC is also committed to an active programme of Research and Development with a view to maintaining that expertise and extending it as the Internet continues to make massive technological strides. That R&D effort directly benefits AFNIC’s customers and members through the services which depend on the outcome of such endeavours. Finally, AFNIC has decided to capitalise on its core business, the technical management of Internet TLD registries, in order to become involved in the programme to create new Top Level Domains initiated by ICANN in 2008. It supports several projects in this capacity, both in the application phase with ICANN and in the subsequent management of the domains when they have been delegated. In particular the city of Paris has chosen AFNIC as the technical operator for the future .paris TLD. As a neutral, independent body, AFNIC can legitimately assume the role of prime contractor for a monitoring platform enabling all the stakeholders to benefit from the results of studies that they could not consider carrying out o their own. - 113 -
Contents Overview ..................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 6 The purpose of a French Domain Name Industry Report ................................................... 6 Executive summary .................................................................................................... 7 Growth well above the average rate for Top Level Domains ............................................ 7 A steadily growing pool of names ....................................................................................... 8 Young urban registrants ........................................................................................................ 9 On-going market concentration ......................................................................................... 9 A zone secured by DNSSEC and anycast ............................................................................ 10 Professional web uses and e-mail addresses for private individuals................................ 11 Expected changes in France and worldwide ..................................................................... 12 Part One: Background ............................................................................................... 13 Chapter 1: The Internet in France ......................................................................................... 13 Internet users increasingly numerous and better equipped ..................................................................13 International comparisons ....................................................................................................................15 Chapter 2: Domain names worldwide ................................................................................. 16 Use of domain names in the world .......................................................................................................16 Geographical distribution of domain names .........................................................................................19 Chapter 3: Domain names in France ................................................................................... 20 Market share for Top Level Domains in France ....................................................................................20 Part Two: .fr domain names ...................................................................................... 22 Chapter 4: Number of .fr domain names ............................................................................ 22 Number of .fr domain names ..............................................................................................................22 Private individuals and legal entities .....................................................................................................23 Renewal of .fr domain names ..............................................................................................................24 Chapter 5: Number of .fr domain names per holder ......................................................... 25 Private individuals ...............................................................................................................................25 Legal entities ........................................................................................................................................26 Chapter 6: Lexicographical structure of .fr domain names ............................................. 27 Length of .fr domain names .................................................................................................................27 Hyphens and numbers in .fr domain names ........................................................................................28 Terms used in .fr domain names ..........................................................................................................28 Combinations registered as .fr domain names .....................................................................................30 Searches using various lists of terms ......................................................................................................30 French words registered as .fr domain names ........................................................................................30 Names of French municipalities registered as .fr domain names ...........................................................31 Business names and trademarks registered as .fr domain names ...........................................................32 - 114 -
Part Three: Holders ...................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 7: The location of private registrants of .fr domain names ................................. 34 Opening remarks..................................................................................................................................34 Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals .............................................................35 Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants ...........................36 Growth rate over one year ....................................................................................................................39 Chapter 8: The location of legal entities registrants of .fr domain names ....................... 41 Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities.......................................................................41 Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies .....................................43 Growth rate over one year ....................................................................................................................46 Chapter 9: Location of private individual and legal entities holding .fr domain names ....................................................................................................................... 48 Total number of .fr domain names (private individuals and legal entities). ...........................................48 Chapter 10: Ages of individual holders of .fr domain names. .......................................... 51 Age pyramid of individual holders of .fr domain names .......................................................................51 Changes in the ages of individual holders of .fr domain names .............................................................53 Part Four: Registrars .................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 11: Registrars of .fr domain names........................................................................ 54 Number of registrars of .fr domain names ............................................................................................54 Location of registrars of .fr domain names............................................................................................55 Chapter 12: Services and prices offered by registrars ....................................................... 59 Services offered by registrars .................................................................................................................59 Registrars’ charges.................................................................................................................................60 Chapter 13: Analysis of the registrar market ....................................................................... 62 Market for registrars of .fr domain names .............................................................................................62 Changes in the market for registrars of .fr domain names .....................................................................67 Catchment areas of registrars of .fr domain names ...............................................................................69 The market for ICANN-accredited registrars ........................................................................................72 Registrars that are both ICANN-accredited and .fr providers ...............................................................76 Chapter 14: Analysis of the secondary market ................................................................... 77 The secondary domain name market worldwide (DN Journal) ............................................................77 The secondary domain name market worldwide (Sedo) ........................................................................79 Secondary market for .fr domain names (Sedo) ....................................................................................82 Part Five: Technologies .............................................................................................. 84 Chapter 15: DNS Servers ........................................................................................................ 84 Number of DNS servers per .fr domain name ......................................................................................84 Number of .fr domain names per DNS server ......................................................................................84 Requests received by authoritative DNS servers managed by AFNIC ...................................................85 Chapter 16: Using IPv6 addresses......................................................................................... 87 Procedure used in searching for IPv6 addresses .....................................................................................87 IPv6-compatible .fr domain names .....................................................................................................87 International comparisons ....................................................................................................................89 - 115 -
Part Six: Uses................................................................................................................ 90 Chapter 17: Use of .fr domain names on the Web ............................................................. 90 Responses from web servers associated with .fr domain names .............................................................90 Types of website associated with .fr domain names ...............................................................................92 Chapter 18: Perception of .fr domain names ..................................................................... 95 Perception of the .fr domain.................................................................................................................95 Values associated with the .fr domain ...................................................................................................97 Expectations associated with acquiring .fr domain names .....................................................................98 Acquisition of .fr domain names ..........................................................................................................99 Use of .fr domain names ......................................................................................................................100 Chapter 19: Disputes over domain names in France ......................................................... 101 Disputes over .fr domain names ...........................................................................................................101 UDRP disputes handled by WIPO ......................................................................................................104 Part Seven: Conclusions ............................................................................................ 108 Chapter 20: Market trends and prospects ........................................................................... 108 Review of the year ................................................................................................................................108 Outlooks ..............................................................................................................................................109 About AFNIC ............................................................................................................... 113 Contents ...................................................................................................................... 114 List of tables ................................................................................................................. 117 List of figures ................................................................................................................ 118 List of notes .................................................................................................................. 120 Glossary ....................................................................................................................... 122 - 116 -
List of tables Table 1 – Internet statistics for France in 2010 .............................................................................14 Table 2 – Annual change in the ages of individual holders of .fr domain names ...........................53 Table 3 – Concentration indices for the market for .fr domain names registered by private individuals ..................................................................................................................63 Table 4 – Concentration indices for the market for .fr domain names registered by legal entities ............................................................................................................................64 Table 5 – Concentration indices for the overall market for .fr domain names (private individuals and legal entities included)............................................................................66 Table 6 – Concentration indices for the world market in generic domain names ..........................75 Table 7 – French ICANN-accredited registrars .............................................................................75 Table 8 – Characteristics of websites associated with .fr domain names ........................................94 Table 9 – Statistics on the PREDEC procedure .............................................................................103 - 117 -
List of figures Figure 1 – Setting up of websites by European companies ............................................................15 Figure 2 – Number of domain names per Top Level Domain ........................................................16 Figure 3 – Annual growth in the number of domain names per Top Level Domain ......................17 Figure 4 – Development in the normalised number of domain names per type of Top Level Domain ....................................................................................................................18 Figure 5 – Distribution of generic domain names per country......................................................19 Figure 6 – Breakdown of domain names registered in France .......................................................20 Figure 7 – Growth in the total number of .fr domain names .........................................................22 Figure 8 – Percentage of .fr domain names registered by private individuals ................................23 Figure 9 – Renewal of .fr domain names ......................................................................................24 Figure 10 – Number of .fr domain names per holder for private individuals ................................26 Figure 11 – Length of .fr domain names .......................................................................................28 Figure 12 – Main terms used in .fr domain names .......................................................................29 Figure 13 – Proportion of French words registered as .fr domain names .......................................31 Figure 14 – Proportion of business names and trademarks registered as .fr domain names .........33 Figure 15 – Distribution per country of the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals ...................................................................................................................35 Figure 16 – Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants (Metropolitan France) ................................................................................37 Figure 17 – Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants (Overseas territories) ..................................................................................38 Figure 18 – Annual growth rate in the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals (Metropolitan France)................................................................................39 Figure 19 – Annual growth rate in the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals (Overseas territories)..................................................................................40 Figure 20 – Distribution per country of the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities .............................................................................................................................42 Figure 21 – Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies (Metropolitan France)...................................................................................................................44 Figure 22 – Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies (Overseas) .....................................................................................................................................45 Figure 23 – Annual percentage increase in the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities (Metropolitan France) .........................................................................................46 Figure 24 – Annual percentage increase in the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities (Overseas) ............................................................................................................47 Figure 25 – Total number of .fr domain names (Metropolitan France) .........................................49 Figure 26 – Total number of .fr domain names (Overseas territories) ...........................................50 Figure 27 – Comparison of age pyramids for individual holders of .fr domain names, and the French population ............................................................................................................52 Figure 28 – Changes in the number of registrars of .fr domain names ..........................................54 Figure 29 – Distribution of registrars of .fr domain names (Metropolitan France) .......................56 Figure 30 – Distribution of registrars of .fr domain names (Overseas territories) .........................57 Figure 31 – Distribution of registrars of .fr domain names outside France ...................................58 Figure 32 – Rates for .fr domain names ........................................................................................61 Figure 33 – Ranking of registrars in relation to the total number of .fr domain names.................65 Figure 34 – Main registrars ranked by the overall number of .fr domain names ...........................67 Figure 35 – Changes in concentration indices for the registration market of .fr domain names in terms of the stock of names managed, and new names registered..............................................68 - 118 -
Figure 36 – Relationship between the size of the catchment area and the domain name portfolio of .fr registrars for private individuals............................................................................70 Figure 37 – Relationship between the size of the catchment area and the domain name portfolio of .fr registrars for legal entities .....................................................................................71 Figure 38 – Distribution per country of ICANN-accredited registrars ..........................................72 Figure 39 – Distribution of generic domain names per country of registrar .................................73 Figure 40 – Ranking of registrars in relation to the total number of generic domain names .........74 Figure 41 – The most expensive country-code domain names sold on the secondary market ........78 Figure 42 – Volumes of transactions per Top Level Domains on Sedo ...........................................79 Figure 43 – Average price of domain names sold on Sedo, per Top Level Domain ........................80 Figure 44 – Mean prices of domain names sold on Sedo, per Top Level Domain ..........................81 Figure 45 – Monthly figures for transactions in .fr domain names on Sedo ..................................82 Figure 46 – Prices of .fr domain names sold on Sedo ....................................................................83 Figure 47 – Number of requests received by AFNIC-run authoritative DNS servers for the .fr domain .........................................................................................................................85 Figure 48 – Type of requests received by an AFNIC-run authoritative DNS server for the .fr domain .........................................................................................................................86 Figure 49 – Percentage of IPv6-compatible .fr domain names .....................................................88 Figure 50 – Categories of response codes returned by web servers associated with .fr domain names ..................................................................................................................91 Figure 51 – Top Level Domains used for redirects associated with .fr domain names ...................92 Figure 52 – Types of website associated with .fr domain names ....................................................94 Figure 53 – Perception of the .fr domain .....................................................................................96 Figure 54 – Values associated with the .fr domain .........................................................................97 Figure 55 – Expectations associated with acquiring .fr domain names ..........................................98 Figure 56 – Acquisition of .fr domain names ................................................................................99 Figure 57 – Changes in the number of proceedings dealt with by AFNIC concerning disputes over .fr domain names...................................................................................................................102 Figure 58 – Changes in the number of domain names involved in WIPO proceedings .................104 Figure 59 – Decisions resulting from WIPO proceedings concerning .fr domain names ..............105 Figure 60 – Countries of origin of most defendants involved in WIPO proceedings.....................106 Figure 61 – Countries of origin of most defendants involved in WIPO proceedings.....................107 - 119 -
List of notes 1 ARCEP, 2009 Annual Survey conducted for ARCEP and CGIET by CREDOC on the dissemination of new information and communication technologies in French society, http://www.arcep.fr/uploads/tx_gspublication/etude-credoc-2009-111209.pdf 2 ARCEP, Quarterly report on electronic communications markets in France - Q1 2010 - Final results, http://www.arcep.fr/index.php?id=10519 3 Eurostat, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat 4 Dot and Co, ICANN registries, http://www.dotandco.net/ressources/icann_registries/volumes.fr 5 WebHosting.Info, http://www.webhosting.info/ 6 AFNIC, Statistics, http://www.afnic.fr/actu/stats 7 French Ministry of Education, List of the most frequent words of the French language drawn up by the lexicographer Étienne Brunet, http://eduscol.education.fr/cid50486/vocabulaire.html 8 Olivier Bacquet, Dubois-Buyse graduated spelling list, http://o.bacquet.free.fr/db2.htm 9 Christophe Pallier, List of French words, April 2004, http://www.pallier.org/ressources/dicofr/dicofr.html 10 Wikipedia, List of France’s most densely-populated towns, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_communes_de_France_les_plus_peupl%C3%A9es 11 Wikipedia, List of towns in France with more than 20,000 inhabitants, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_communes_de_France_de_plus_de_20_000_habitants 12 LEXILOGOS, Population of towns with over 10,000 inhabitants in 2006, http://www.lexilogos.com/population_communes.htm 13 INSEE, Official Geographic Code, http://www.insee.fr/fr/methodes/nomenclatures/cog/ 14 Wikipedia, CAC 40, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAC_40 15 Wikipedia ranking of the largest French companies in 2006, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classement_des_plus_grandes_entreprises_fran%C3%A7aises_en_2006 16 L’Expansion.com, The 1,000 leading French groups and their subsidiaries in terms of sales turnover (industry, services and trade), http://www.lexpansion.com/economie/classement/ 17 Fortune, Global 500, Annual ranking of the world’s largest corporations, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/ 18 Wikipedia, Brand mapping, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartographie_des_marques 19 INSEE, Annual population estimates on 1 January, by region, department, sex and age, 1990 2008, http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/detail.asp?ref_id=estim-pop&reg_id=99 20 INSEE, Demography of companies and plants, 2009 – non-agricultural trading sectors, http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/detail.asp?reg_id=99&ref_id=fd-sidemo09 21 Dot and Co, ICANN Registrars, http://www.dotandco.net/ressources/icann_registrars/index.fr 22 DN Journal, Year-To-Date Top 100 Domain Sales Chart, http://www.dnjournal.com/ytd-sales-charts.htm 23 Sedo, Secondary Market Report for domain names in 2009: growth is on the go ..., 09/02/2010, http://www.sedo.com/presse/presse.php?id=299 24 Sedo, Sedo study for Q2 2010, 02/08/2010, http://www.sedo.com/links/showlinks.php3?language=fr&Id=2680 25 AFNIC, DNSwitness, http://www.dnswitness.net/ 26 OECD, OECD Resources on Internet addressing: IPv4 and IPv6, www.oecd.org/sti/tic/ipv6 27 Internet Association Japan, Measurement of IPv6 readiness: DNS Deployment, http://v6metric.inetcore.com/en/html/st04/index.html - 120 -
28 AFNIC, 2010 survey on the perception of .fr reveals a clear preference in favour of .fr domain names, http://www.afnic.fr/actu/nouvelles/259/bilan-2010-de-la-perception-du-fr-un-bilan-qui-revele-une- preference-marquee-pour-les-noms-de-domaine-en-fr 29 AFNIC, Legal References, http://www.afnic.fr/doc/ref/juridique 30 AFNIC, Dispute resolution procedure for obvious breaches of the Decree dated 6 February 2007, http://www.afnic.fr/doc/ref/juridique/predec 31 WIPO, Domain Name Dispute Resolution Statistics, http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/statistics/ 32 Changes on the way for the .fr domain, http://www.afnic.fr/actu/nouvelles/243/le-fr-ce-qui-va-changer - 121 -
Glossary ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution procedure ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line AFNIC Association Française pour le Nommage Internet en Coopération Anycast Addressing and routing technique used to redirect data to the “nearest” or the “most effective” server according to routing policy. ARCEP Autorité de Régulation des Communications Électroniques et des Postes - French Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Post ccTLD country-code Top Level Domain CMAP Centre de Médiation et d’Arbitrage de Paris - Paris Mediation and Arbitration Centre CR Concentration Ratio, a commonly accepted measure of market concentration DNS Domain Name System DNSSEC Domain Name System Security Extensions EPP Extensible Provisioning Protocol, a protocol for exchanges among registries and registrars FDI Forum des droits sur l’Internet - Internet Rights Forum gTLD generic Top Level Domain HHI Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, a commonly accepted measure of market concentration ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers IDN Internationalized Domain Name INSEE Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques - French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies IP Internet Protocol IPv6 Internet Protocol - version 6 PREDEC Procédure de résolution des cas de violations manifestes des dispositions du décret du 6 février 2007 - Dispute resolution procedure for obvious breaches of the Decree dated 6 February 2007 Registry Body (association, company, etc.) in charge of managing the database of a TLD, or of IP addresses for a specified region - 122 -
SME Small and medium-size enterprises TLD Top Level Domain UDRP Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy URL Uniform Resource Locator VSE Very Small Enterprise Whois Service for searching registry databases for information on a domain name or IP address WIPO World Intellectual Property Organisation - 123 -
- 124 -
www.afnic.fr - afnic@afnic.fr Immeuble International - 78181 Saint Quentin en Yvelines Cedex - France Phone: +33 1 39 30 83 00 - Fax: +33 1 39 30 83 01 Siret: 414 757 567 00022 - APE: 6311Z - TVA n° FR 72 414 757 567 Copyright 2010 AFNIC Every quotation or reproduction must mention the source: “French Domain Name Industry Report - 2010 Edition - www.afnic.fr” This document is printed on 100% recycled paper. - 125 -
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2010 French Domain name Industry Report
2010 French Domain name Industry Report

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2010 French Domain name Industry Report

  • 1. 2010 French Domain Name Industry Report AFNIC - Télécom SudParis
  • 3. French Domain Name Industry Report 2010 Issue
  • 4. Overview Introduction ................................................................................................................. 6 The purpose of a French Domain Name Industry Report ................................................... 6 Executive summary .................................................................................................... 7 Growth well above the average rate for Top Level Domains ............................................ 7 A steadily growing pool of names ....................................................................................... 8 Young urban registrants ........................................................................................................ 9 On-going market concentration ......................................................................................... 9 A zone secured by DNSSEC and anycast ............................................................................ 10 Professional web uses and e-mail addresses for private individuals................................ 11 Expected changes in France and worldwide ..................................................................... 12 Part One: Background ............................................................................................... 13 Chapter 1: The Internet in France ......................................................................................... 13 Internet users increasingly numerous and better equipped ..................................................................13 International comparisons ....................................................................................................................15 Chapter 2: Domain names worldwide ................................................................................. 16 Use of domain names in the world .......................................................................................................16 Geographical distribution of domain names .........................................................................................19 Chapter 3: Domain names in France ................................................................................... 20 Market share for Top Level Domains in France ....................................................................................20 Part Two: .fr domain names ...................................................................................... 22 Chapter 4: Number of .fr domain names ............................................................................ 22 Number of .fr domain names ..............................................................................................................22 Private individuals and legal entities .....................................................................................................23 Renewal of .fr domain names ..............................................................................................................24 Chapter 5: Number of .fr domain names per holder ......................................................... 25 Private individuals ...............................................................................................................................25 Legal entities ........................................................................................................................................26 Chapter 6: Lexicographical structure of .fr domain names ............................................. 27 Length of .fr domain names .................................................................................................................27 Hyphens and numbers in .fr domain names ........................................................................................28 Terms used in .fr domain names ..........................................................................................................28 Combinations registered as .fr domain names .....................................................................................30 Searches using various lists of terms ......................................................................................................30 French words registered as .fr domain names ........................................................................................30 Names of French municipalities registered as .fr domain names ...........................................................31 Business names and trademarks registered as .fr domain names ...........................................................32 -2-
  • 5. Part Three: Holders ...................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 7: The location of private registrants of .fr domain names ................................. 34 Opening remarks..................................................................................................................................34 Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals .............................................................35 Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants ...........................36 Growth rate over one year ....................................................................................................................39 Chapter 8: The location of legal entities registrants of .fr domain names ....................... 41 Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities.......................................................................41 Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies .....................................43 Growth rate over one year ....................................................................................................................46 Chapter 9: Location of private individual and legal entities holding .fr domain names ....................................................................................................................... 48 Total number of .fr domain names (private individuals and legal entities). ...........................................48 Chapter 10: Ages of individual holders of .fr domain names. .......................................... 51 Age pyramid of individual holders of .fr domain names .......................................................................51 Changes in the ages of individual holders of .fr domain names .............................................................53 Part Four: Registrars .................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 11: Registrars of .fr domain names........................................................................ 54 Number of registrars of .fr domain names ............................................................................................54 Location of registrars of .fr domain names............................................................................................55 Chapter 12: Services and prices offered by registrars ....................................................... 59 Services offered by registrars .................................................................................................................59 Registrars’ charges.................................................................................................................................60 Chapter 13: Analysis of the registrar market ....................................................................... 62 Market for registrars of .fr domain names .............................................................................................62 Changes in the market for registrars of .fr domain names .....................................................................67 Catchment areas of registrars of .fr domain names ...............................................................................69 The market for ICANN-accredited registrars ........................................................................................72 Registrars that are both ICANN-accredited and .fr providers ...............................................................76 Chapter 14: Analysis of the secondary market ................................................................... 77 The secondary domain name market worldwide (DN Journal) ............................................................77 The secondary domain name market worldwide (Sedo) ........................................................................79 Secondary market for .fr domain names (Sedo) ....................................................................................82 Part Five: Technologies .............................................................................................. 84 Chapter 15: DNS Servers ........................................................................................................ 84 Number of DNS servers per .fr domain name ......................................................................................84 Number of .fr domain names per DNS server ......................................................................................84 Requests received by authoritative DNS servers managed by AFNIC ...................................................85 Chapter 16: Using IPv6 addresses......................................................................................... 87 Procedure used in searching for IPv6 addresses .....................................................................................87 IPv6-compatible .fr domain names .....................................................................................................87 International comparisons ....................................................................................................................89 -3-
  • 6. Part Six: Uses................................................................................................................ 90 Chapter 17: Use of .fr domain names on the Web ............................................................. 90 Responses from web servers associated with .fr domain names .............................................................90 Types of website associated with .fr domain names ...............................................................................92 Chapter 18: Perception of .fr domain names ..................................................................... 95 Perception of the .fr domain.................................................................................................................95 Values associated with the .fr domain ...................................................................................................97 Expectations associated with acquiring .fr domain names .....................................................................98 Acquisition of .fr domain names ..........................................................................................................99 Use of .fr domain names ......................................................................................................................100 Chapter 19: Disputes over domain names in France ......................................................... 101 Disputes over .fr domain names ...........................................................................................................101 UDRP disputes handled by WIPO ......................................................................................................104 Part Seven: Conclusions ............................................................................................ 108 Chapter 20: Market trends and prospects ........................................................................... 108 Review of the year ................................................................................................................................108 Outlooks ..............................................................................................................................................109 About AFNIC ............................................................................................................... 113 Contents ...................................................................................................................... 114 List of tables ................................................................................................................. 117 List of figures ................................................................................................................ 118 List of notes .................................................................................................................. 120 Glossary ....................................................................................................................... 122 -4-
  • 7. -5-
  • 8. Introduction This document is the 2010 issue of the French Domain Name Industry Report. It was drafted in September 2010. The statistics presented were obtained using various sources, including the retrieval of non-confidential information from the AFNIC database, public information sites, opinion polls, etc. AFNIC would like to thank all those who provided information useful for drafting this report. This study was conducted as part of a research contract between AFNIC and Télécom SudParis, from July to September 2010. Information obtained thereafter was not taken into account in this version of the report. The purpose of a French Domain Name Industry Report There are various services providing information about domain names, but they have a global, general vision, without access to the specific data of registries, without seeking in-depth analysis of the various markets. Since 2007, AFNIC has undertaken the initiative of establishing an annual industry report on French domain names, to be of benefit to market participants, as well as to the government and Internet development agencies in France. The overall aims of this industry report are to: • Provide a reliable reflection of the market and its players, • Provide the keys for analysing the factors shaping the market and its trends, • Help promote understanding and recognition among the private and public sectors of this market and its specific characteristics, • Identify the market’s strengths and weaknesses and make recommendations to the registries and / or registrars. The aim is to produce a paper to be presented to the government and distributed to Internet stakeholders and the general public. -6-
  • 9. Executive summary Salient facts about the .fr domain for 2009-2010 Official designation of AFNIC as the Registry for the .fr country-code Top Level Domain in March 2010 Opening of .fr to the French citizens living abroad in March 2010 Nearly 1.8 million domain names registered by the summer of 2010 21% annual growth for the .fr TLD, or 10 points more than the average for other TLDs 38% of .fr domain names registered by private individuals Median end-user price of € 12 exc. VAT/year, in line with the other Top Level Domains Continuation of the market consolidation of domain name registrars High growth on the .fr secondary market, with the highest average prices such as “credit.fr” sold for € 600,000 Signature of the .fr root with DNSSEC in September 2010 Nearly one in every two names refers to a professional website, far in front of personal websites A marked preference among people in France for the .fr TLD Growth well above the average rate for Top Level Domains ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• After a sharp slowdown in the global growth of domain names in 2009, the situation seems to have stabilised this year: all the Top Level Domains outside China have returned to double-digit growth (10% year over year in June 2010). If the .cn ccTLD is an exception in losing 40% of its portfolio of names, it is due to the new highly restrictive registration requirements established by the Chinese registry and not to the general economic situation. The growth has not resumed the cruising speed it posted up until 2008 of some 20% per year. Country-code Top Level Domains continue to thrive a little better than generic TLDs, and the .fr in particular, which, with 21% annual growth rate, retains a lead of 10 points over the average rates for other domains. Since being opened to private individuals in June 2006, the French ccTLD is expanding at a rate of approximately 300,000 names a year and is now close to 1.8 million domain names. It currently represents one third of all the domain names registered in France, behind the .com TLD, which has started to grow again on the domestic market after a pause last year. The .com also largely dominates the world market for domain names with more than 85 million names registered. It is followed by the .de, .net and .uk Top Level Domains, Germany and the United Kingdom having quickly liberalised the registration requirements applicable to their respective national domains. In terms of domain names per capita the .fr TLD still lags behind its European counterparts, which also indicates that the French domain continues to enjoy an undeniable potential for growth. -7-
  • 10. Markets for ccTLDs are closely linked to the rate with which households and businesses equip themselves with Internet access. Two thirds of the people in France now have Internet access at home, mainly based on broadband ADSL technology. Uses based on mobile Internet are also booming: if 30% of mobile phone users now use 3G services, the growth in mobile telephony is largely being driven by non-voice SIM cards (exclusive Internet cards for computers or cards for communicating objects). As far as businesses are concerned, France remains in the forefront of European countries in terms of broadband equipment rates, but still stands in the last quarter of the rankings for setting up websites, the sign of a recurrent lack of awareness among French companies about Internet communication tools compared with their counterparts. The relatively under-developed footprint of French companies on the Web can no doubt be correlated with the lesser use of domain names in France in relation to other countries that are comparable in economic terms. For instance, only 2.6% of the generic domain names worldwide are held by French companies, although this figure has been steadily increasing for the last three years. A steadily growing pool of names ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• In one of every two cases, the registration of new .fr domain names in 2010 was carried out individual persons, such that at present 38% of all the .fr domain names have been registered by private individuals. Standing at around 80%, the turnover rate of .fr domain names is still very high in relation to comparable Top Level Domains. Most of the .fr registrants only have a single domain name under this TLD, whether it concerns private individuals or legal entities. Some 7,000 people, however, and 18,000 companies possess more than five domain names each. Among them, some even have very large portfolios of domain names, in the order of several thousand: they are mostly domainers, present on the secondary market for .fr domain names. Lexicographic analysis of all the .fr domain names that have been registered shows a steady increase in the various indicators observed. The average length of names is growing by 0.4 characters every year and this year stood at 12.4. The average number of dashes in names is also increasing: the overall growth of the zone encourages users to choose names that are increasingly longer by making greater use of separators. The term “paris” and “restaurant” have increased their frequency of occurrence in domain names, as well as the years for future French elections (2012, 2016). Furthermore, 85% of the most commonly used French words are stored as an .fr domain name, as well as 93% of the principal family names, three-quarters of all French first names, 95% of the names of towns with more than 1,000 inhabitants, and 80% of the 1,000 top French companies. -8-
  • 11. Young urban registrants ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The .fr Top Level Domain has been open to French citizens living abroad since March 2010. If only 0.1% of the names submitted by private individuals were located abroad at the time of the study, Belgium and Switzerland already stand out among the countries in which holders are located. As for domain names registered by companies, 1.9% of them are located outside France, and this time Germany is well ahead, apparently largely due to one domainer. In France, there is still a high concentration of names in the most economically active departments, primarily Paris and the Hauts-de-Seine. Some departments, however, have growth well above average, such as the Haute-Saone for private individuals, or Reunion Island for businesses. The number of domain names held per entity this year stands at 7.6 names per 1,000 inhabitants and 260 domain names for 1,000 companies. The mean age of individual holders has increased by 5 months since 2009, and now stands at 36 years of age. This development, however, is linked to the natural aging of the population and not to a greater awareness of the older age groups: if the demographic factor is excluded, the development would be the opposite, and the mean age would drop 7 months. In fact, it is the 19-30 year-old age group which has increased the most in the past year. On-going market concentration ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• With a decline in the number of registrars of 8% in 2010 as the year before, the restructuring of the market is continuing: there are now approximately 800 providers of .fr domain names. Registrars are still predominantly located in large cities, while 13 departments have none. On the other hand, almost 15% of them are located outside France, mainly in Europe. This figure is also liable to increase with the future opening of the French ccTLD to the European Union. A study of the offers made by the top 30 registrars of .fr domain names shows a very wide scale of rates (from € 5 to € 160 plus VAT). The differences are justified by the market segments targeted by each provider (for private individuals or the corporate sector), and any additional services included in the basic package. The rates have changed in various ways over the year, some increasing and others decreasing, such that the mean price has remained stable this year at € 12 plus VAT, as in 2009. It is also worth noting that the most common TLDs are now available at the same rate (generic, .eu, and .fr). The market for .fr domain name registrars continued to concentrate in 2010, but remains classified as moderately concentrated. As last year, the concentration primarily benefits the market leader at the expense of the following actors. This trend can also be observed on each of the individual holder and corporate markets separately, but the individual holder market switched to the concentrated category last year, while the corporate market for the time being continues to retain its non-concentrated status. A study of the catchment areas indicates that a small proportion of providers (about 15% on the individual holder market and 6% on the corporate market) have a local clientele limited to a few departments, while 30 to 40% of them cover virtually all of mainland France. -9-
  • 12. The global market for ICANN accredited registrars is also undergoing concentration: its status rose from non-concentrated to moderately concentrated in 2010. As for the .fr TLD, it is the market leader which has benefitted the most: Go Daddy, whose market share now reaches 30%. In addition, out of almost a thousand accredited providers, over half are located in the United States, against only 1.6% in France. The leading French registrar passed the one million registered generic domain names in 2010. The number of registrars present on both the generic TLDs as ICANN accredited providers and on the .fr TLD has also increased 8% in one year. The secondary market for domain names continues to grow, but more moderately than in the past. While the French domain currently represents only 1% of the names exchanged, it has grown rapidly in recent years (over 30% in 2009). It also remains the most expensive TLD, even though the average price of all TLDs suffered a slight decline. The mean price for .fr domain names stood at around € 650 in the first half of 2010. It seems that the domainers have now identified the French market as full of opportunities and have begun to massively invest in it. Extreme prices also resumed their growth in 2010, the world record being for “slots.com”, which traded for $ 5.5 million while the top domain name among French TLD “credit.fr” was sold for about € 600,000. As always, names related to finance and online games are on the rise. A zone secured by DNSSEC and anycast ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• An analysis of the supervision statistics of authoritative DNS servers managed by AFNIC indicates that the average number of requests received increased by 40% between early 2008 and the summer of 2010. The percentage of requests sent using IPv6 is experiencing a slight increase but still remains low (1.2%). The deployment of IPv6 seems equally modest at present in terms of servers: while 6% of the DNS servers for .fr domain names are IPv6-compatible, the ratio is only 1% for web servers and even less for e-mail servers. These figures raise some concerns with regard to the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses forecast for 2012, but a possible deployment by the major registrars on the market could make the ratios change very rapidly. In terms of security, several significant changes were made to the .fr TLD. After the DNS root in July, that of the French domain was signed with the DNSSEC protocol in September 2010, which should ultimately protect users against cache poisoning attacks. The managers of the DNS servers of registrars and ISPs are now required to implement DNSSEC in turn to fully exploit the benefits of this technology. In addition, AFNIC also deployed its own anycast cloud in 2010, making it possible to distribute the DNS service even further on the .fr zone, using a series of physical servers distributed worldwide. - 10 -
  • 13. Professional web uses and e-mail addresses for private individuals ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• In 2010, 62% of the web servers associated with .fr domain names replied with a success message and 23% with a redirect to another site, such that 85% of the domain names in the zone led to an effective site. This high figure reflects the high utilisation rate of the TLD, which seems much less subject to purely defensive registration strategies than others. If redirect cases have increased significantly over the past year (+6 points), this development is primarily due to a change in the configuration of a major registrar, which refers to a holding page by default more systematically. An analysis of a random sample of 1,000 .fr domain names shows that nearly half of them lead to a professional website, far ahead of personal sites (3%). Just over a quarter of the domains were associated with a holding page or sponsored links. The low proportion of websites for personal use may indicate that private individuals use their domain name more to create customised e-mail addresses than to communicate on the Web. Opinion surveys conducted by AFNIC indicate a strong preference of people in France for the .fr domain: it evokes an attachment to France for 78% of the respondents, and 76% of them spontaneously seek the site of a French company. In addition, more than one in two believes that the prospects for development of .fr in the medium to long term are quite good. As last year, the values associated with the ccTLD remain that of speaking the French language, being a member of the community and closeness, and the price is always the main criterion for taking the decision to acquire a domain name or in choosing a provider. Finally, the main use of names seems to be to create customised e-mail addresses, ancillary services related to privacy and security receiving general acclaim. In terms of resolution of disputes, the PREDEC procedure (resolving cases of obvious violations of the provisions of the Decree of 6 February 2007) has been used consistently since its inception in July 2008, with 6 procedures on average per month, most of them concerning intellectual property rights. It rounds out a useful set of procedures for handling disputes that is already available for the French country-code Top Level Domain. At the same time, the number of .fr domain names involved in UDRP proceedings at WIPO per 100,000 was divided by three between 2008 and 2009, the French domain falling behind .com as a result: the decline could be a consequence of the success of the PREDEC procedure. In all the cases of disputes for all TLDs combined, France represents 11% of the claimants and 3% of the defendants: it would seem that French firms are more often victims than perpetrators of acts such as cybersquatting, and that they tend to initiate court proceedings after the event rather than pursue defensive registration policies beforehand. - 11 -
  • 14. Expected changes in France and worldwide ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The French Minister of Industry formally designated as AFNIC as the Registry for the .fr country-code Top Level Domain in March 2010 for a period of seven years. This decision was accompanied by a contractual framework detailing several structural changes for the domain, in terms of relaxing the conditions for registration, the legibility of offerings to end users, contributions to R&D and security. After opening the .fr to French citizens living abroad in March 2010, another major change in the Naming Charter for the TLD should follow its opening to the European Union from late 2011 onwards, this development being liable to eventually cause significant changes in the structure of the registrar market. A Quality of Service Report for registrars will be established in early 2011, thus meeting the requirements of transparency in offers, as well as a certification to validate the expertise of providers. In terms of security, the implementation of DNSSEC in the root servers of the .fr zone should be followed by awareness campaigns and training courses for managers of DNS servers, who will need to integrate the security protocol in their own infrastructure. Globally, the process of creating new Internet Top Level Domains initiated by ICANN two years ago should come to fruition in 2011. Besides the internationalised domains already validated and in the course of implementation for countries using non-Latin characters (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Russia, etc.), 200 new TLDs have been proposed to represent a city, a region, a community or a company. This is the case for the proposed .paris TLD, for which AFNIC should be the technical partner in the light of its experience in managing the .fr. On 6 October 2010, the Constitutional Council declared section L. 45 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code unconstitutional, urging the legislature to review the text in order to take into account the freedom of expression and enterprise. A number of policy options specified at the regulatory level by the decree of 6 February 2007 should also be incorporated into the new legislation. Neither the designation of AFNIC nor its specific scope of action were referred to by the Constitutional Council, which bases its decision on the fundamental principles of French law. 1 July 2011 was set as the date from which the current Article L. 45 will be repealed. It is therefore now up to the legislature to rebuild the legal framework for domain names in France, under extremely tight deadlines. In this respect, 2011 will be a particularly crucial year for AFNIC, which nourishes the hope that future decisions will maintain the gains of the current framework and enhance it in order to reflect the decision of the Constitutional Council. - 12 -
  • 15. Part One: Background Chapter 1 The Internet in France ● Data source: CREDOC, ARCEP, CGIET, Médiamétrie, Eurostat. This chapter presents an overview of Internet use in France, including the rate with which people in France are being equipped for Internet access, number of users, number of Internet subscriptions and international comparisons. Internet users increasingly numerous and better equipped ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The rate with which people in France have become equipped with computers and Internet access has seen regular growth for many years1. In 2009, three out of every four persons in France had a computer and two thirds had Internet access at home. The proportion of private individuals equipped with a computer without Internet access has significantly dropped from year to year (from 17% in 2003 to 7% in 2009). The number of Internet users in France is also constantly progressing: according to Médiamétrie, 37.5 million people aged 11 or older were connected to the Internet in July 2010, i.e. 7 out of 10 people in France. The total number of Internet subscriptions in France was 20.7 million in the first quarter of 2010 according to ARCEP2. An overwhelming majority use broadband technology (95%), mainly ADSL. If the annual growth rate of broadband access remains high (9% in the second quarter of 2010), it has gradually slowed down since late 2006. Broadband access now stands at 365,000 subscriptions, of which only 90,000 are Fibre To The Home (FTTH), which is struggling to take off commercially. The installed base of mobile phones is now approaching 96% of the population, with strong growth in Internet usage: 39% of callers use multimedia services (WAP, i-mode, MMS, E-mail) and 29% of callers use 3G services. If growth in the installed base of mobile phones remains strong (around 5% a year), half of that growth is currently linked to non-voice SIM cards, a market segment that has been booming since last year with an annual growth rate of more than 80% in Internet-only cards (PCMCIA cards, 3G/3G + Internet keys) and SIM cards for communicating objects (“machine to machine” cards). - 13 -
  • 16. Internet statistics in France in 2010 (according to the CREDOC, Médiamétrie / GfK and ARCEP) Change over Indicator Value one year Equipment at home Computer equipment 74% of the population in 2009 +5 points Internet access equipment 17.8 million, or 65.6% of households in Q2-2010 +8.1% Internet users Internet users 37.5 million, i.e. 70.0% of the population in July 2010 +13.3% Broadband Internet users 33.8 million, or 96.9% of home Internet users in July 2010 +17.9% Internet subscriptions Internet access 20.7 million in Q1-2010 +7.8% ADSL Internet access 20 million in Q2-2010 +8.2% DSL Internet access 0.37 million in Q2-2010 +60.8% Dial-up Internet access 0.6 million in Q1-2010 -27.1% Mobile phones Mobile phone installed base 61.9 million, or 95.8% of the population in Q2-2010 +4.6% Active installed base of mobile 24 million, or 39% of the mobile phone installed base in Q1-2010 +23.1% multimedia users Active installed base of 3G users 17.6 million, or 29% of the mobile phone installed base in Q1-2010 +35.3% Internet-only SIM cards 2.2 million in Q1-2010 +85.6% SIM cards for communicating 1.8 million in Q1-2010 +82.8% objects Table 1 – Internet statistics for France in 2010 - 14 -
  • 17. International comparisons ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• According to Eurostat3, in 2009 France ranked average in the European rate for households equipping themselves with broadband access (57%) while it exceeded this average by 7 percentage points one year earlier: the other European countries have in fact continued to expand their broadband infrastructure for private individuals over one year while growth stagnated in France. France, however, remains well above the European average for the rate of corporate investments in broadband (92% against 82%), and these already very high figures have changed little over one year (1 to 2 percentage points of growth). The situation, however, is still the opposite with regard to the installation of websites by French companies: only 54% of them had a website in 2009 against 64% for the European average: as a result, France ranks in the last quarter of the European Union on this criterion. This poor position should be correlated with the lower use of domain names in France in relation to comparable countries in economic terms. European companies with a website or a homepage in 2009 (according to Eurostat) 100% 88% 90% 86% 85% 84% 80% 79% Percentage of firms (10 employees or more) 80% 77% 75% 75% 73% 70% 69% 68% 68% 70% 65% EU average: 64% 62% 62% 61% 59% 60% 57% 57% 56% 54% 51% 49% 50% 47% 42% 40% 34% 28% 30% 20% 10% 0% Sw rk Be y ze ing y g en N m er ia Fr n ta xe nia nd H ce ia C ly Ir e e Sl kia E ia m Po s C y l Bu ia h e nd Au s th d R ria Po a lic a ga an a ru ur r nd ai ec n i ni Ita r an en tv a at iu al ga do ub w an ed la st N inla la a a Sp m Lu sto rtu ua yp bo m La lg M re ro r la lg or ov om ov un ep en G m F Sl R D G K Li et ch d te ni C U Country Figure 1 – Setting up of websites by European companies - 15 -
  • 18. Chapter 2 Domain names worldwide ● Data source: AFNIC, CIA World Factbook, Dot and Co, CENTR, WebHosting.Info, Internet Systems Consortium, Security Space. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistical data on the use of domain names around the world (including all Top Level Domains). Use of domain names in the world • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The generic TLD .com is still very high on the list with more than 85 million domain names registered. Far behind, two domains exceed 10 million names: .de (Germany) and .net (generic). Growth in the Chinese ccTLD .cn, which had overtaken .net and then .de over the previous two years, becoming the second Top Level Domain worldwide, has fallen sharply due to the introduction of highly restrictive registration requirements by the CNNIC registry and a systematic campaign of compliance. It has lost 4 places in the rankings with less than 8 million domains against 13 million in June 2009. The French domain occupies the 15th place in the rankings with nearly 1.8 million names. Since the rankings last year, it has overtaken the American .us, but has since been overtaken by the Polish .pl. Number of registered domain names in June 2010 per Top Level Domain (based on the AFNIC study of 50 of the main TLDs worldwide) .de (Germany); 13,700,000 .com; 85,422,000 .net; 12,820,000 .uk (UK); 8,588,000 .org; 8,220,000 .cn (China); 7,600,000 .info; 6,141,000 .nl (Netherlands); 3,900,000 Top Level Domain .eu (European Union); 3,210,000 .ru (Russia); 2,883,000 .br (Brazil); 2,140,000 .biz; 2,025,000 .it (Italy); 1,900,000 .pl (Poland); 1,858,000 .fr (France); 1,769,000 .us (USA); 1,715,000 .ch (Switzerland); 1,455,000 .ca (Canada); 1,427,000 .es (Spain); 1,197,000 .jp (Japan); 1,171,000 0 10,000,000 20,000,000 30,000,000 40,000,000 50,000,000 60,000,000 70,000,000 80,000,000 90,000,000 Number of domain names Figure 2 – Number of domain names per Top Level Domain - 16 -
  • 19. In terms of growth, the Montenegrin TLD .me has the fastest rate (54%): it is marketed by a consortium of foreign operators as a “marketed” domain destined for personal content. It is followed by the Russian (.ru) and Mexican (.mx) ccTLDs with annual growth rates of around 33%. The French domain remains well positioned with a 21% annual growth rate, well above the average for the top 50 global Top Level Domains studied (8%). In fact, overall growth continues to be driven by national domains rather than generics (12% against 6%). Annual growth has slowed from one to two points for all of the TLDs except China since 2009. Growth over one year in the numbers of registered domain names in June 2010 per Top Level Domain (based on the AFNIC study of 50 of the main TLDs worldwide) .ru (Russia); 33% .me (Montenegro); 54% .mx (Mexico); 33% .pl (Poland); 29% .br (Brazil); 24% .cz (Czech Republic); 21% .fr (France); 21% Top Level Domain .si (Slovenia); 21% .hu (Hungary); 19% .rs (Serbia); 18% .info; 17% .lu (Luxembourg); 17% Average growth rates .ca (Canada); 16% for the 50 main TLDs (excluding .cn): .sk (Slovakia); 16% .is (Iceland); 14% +8% over one year (against 9% last year) .cl (Chile); 14% .ie (Ireland); 14% +6% on gTLDs (stable) .tr (Turkey); 14% +12% on ccTLDs (14% last year) .ch (Switzerland); 14% .fi (Finland); 13% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Growth rate over one year (June 2009 - June 2010) Figure 3 – Annual growth in the number of domain names per Top Level Domain In terms of the number of domain names registered per capita, the .fr is now in the middle of the 50 TLDs studied with 2.7 names per 100 inhabitants, a ratio which has more than doubled in three years (1.2 in 2007). The Montenegrin domain .me remains well ahead due to its market positioning which places it more among the gTLDs rather than national. These are followed by the Dutch (.nl), Danish (.dk) Switzerland (.ch) and German (.de) domains with more than 15 names per 100 inhabitants. It is worth noting that the number of domain names per capita is not necessarily representative of the actual use of a national domain by the citizens of the country concerned. This because part of the domain names are registered by companies and not private individuals. On the other hand, in the case of TLDs without territorial conditions, some of the names are registered by persons outside the country (the most blatant case being the Montenegrin domain, which is mostly registered by people in England). The ratio of the “number of domains per capita” therefore seems to be largely related to the level of opening of each TLD and must be carefully analysed. The .fr currently maintains a territorial condition: domain names are reserved for French residents and legal entities, French citizens living abroad, and holders of registered trademarks covering France. - 17 -
  • 20. Most of the major gTLDs are experiencing growth rates of between 6% and 9% year on year4. The .info stands out from the rest (+ 17%), while the .biz is treading water. The development in the normalised number of domain names in the major Top Level Domains since 2007 shows that the French domain has progressed significantly faster than the average TLDs studied, both national and generic, and with considerable stability over time. Its growth rate has reached 21% over the past three years, against an average of 12% for national TLDs outside China, and 10% for all TLDs apart from China over the same period. The Russian and Polish ccTLDs and the .info gTLD are experiencing the highest growth rates over the past 3 years, while the Chinese .cn has lost more than 40% of its portfolio of names. Change in the normalised number of domain names per Top Level Domain type since 2007 (Base 100 in April 2007, according to the CENTR and Dot and Co, a study of 25 of the major TLDs worldwide) 220 .fr Change over one year (June 2009 - June 2010): 200 .fr: +21% Total nb of ccTLDs (excl. .cn): +12% Total nb of gTLDs : +9% Normalised number of domain names 180 Total (excl. .cn): +10% (base 100 in April 2007) 160 Total nb of geographic domain names (excl. .cn) 140 l. .cn) Total (exc 120 Total nb of generic domain names 100 8 8 8 0 8 9 9 8 8 9 9 9 7 7 7 9 7 0 0 7 -0 -0 -0 -0 -1 -0 -0 -0 r-0 -0 -0 -0 r-0 r-0 -0 -0 -0 -1 r-1 -0 ne st ct ne ne br st ec ct ne br ec st ec br ct Ap Ap Ap Ap gu O gu O gu Fe O Fe Ju Fe D Ju Ju D D Ju Au Au Au Months Figure 4 – Development in the normalised number of domain names per type of Top Level Domain Year on year, the growth rate for all the Top Level Domains has been declining for several years, reflecting the current economic crisis. The growth in the .fr domain, however, has remained 10 points or more above the average for national and generic TLDs. The slight acceleration in growth forecast in generic domains for spring 2011 could be linked to the promotional campaign for registrars launched by the VeriSign registry to celebrate the 25th anniversary of .com. - 18 -
  • 21. Geographical distribution of domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The WebHosting.info site5 presents estimates for the geographical distribution of generic domain names worldwide. Nearly two-thirds of all domain names have been registered in the United States, followed by Germany, the United Kingdom, China and Canada. The proportion of generic domain names registered in France is 2.6%, and has been growing for the past 3 years (2.2% in 2007). China has overtaken Canada in the ranking this year, which suggests that if the conditions of access to the national domain .cn become highly restrictive, Chinese individuals or companies will continue to widely invest in generic TLDs. Distributon of generic domain names .com /.net /.org /.info /.biz per country of registration in August 2010 (according to WebHosting.Info) Other countries; 9.2% Number of generic domains: Hong Kong; 1.1% 112 million, Italy; 1.2% up 7.1% YOY Spain; 1.2% (against 4.1% last year) Japan; 1.7% Australia; 2.2% France; 2.6% Canada; 3.3% China; 3.7% UK; 3.8% USA; 64.4% (-0,9 point) Germany; 5.5% Figure 5 – Distribution of generic domain names per country - 19 -
  • 22. Chapter 3 Domain names in France ● Data source: ZookNIC, AFNIC. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistical evidence on market share for Top Level Domains for domain names registered in France (.fr and generic TLDs), as well as market share in France in relation to the all generic domain names registered worldwide. Market share for Top Level Domains in France • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The diagram below shows the breakdown between the main TLDs of domain names registered in France in July 2010. The domains most commonly used in France are the .com (43% of names) and the .fr (a third of names), the other coming far behind. The dynamic for one year is positive for the .com (+ 0.9 point) and to a lesser extent for the French ccTLD (+ 0.6) and .net (+ 0.2); it is zero or negative for the other domain. Distribution between the main Top Level Domains registered in France in July 2010 (according to ZookNIC and AFNIC) .biz ; 1.6% (-0.1 over one year) .info ; 2.7% (-0.8 over one year) .mobi ; 0,4% (stable) .eu ; 5.4% (-0.3over one year) .org ; 6.0% (-0.4 over one year) .net ; 7.4% (+0.2 over one year) .com ; 42.9% (+0.9 over one year) .fr ; 33.5% (+0.6 over one year) Figure 6 – Breakdown of domain names registered in France - 20 -
  • 23. The .com resumed its growth on the French market after a marked pause between July 2008 and July 2009, while the .fr is growing much more regularly over time. Over one year, the domains .fr, .com and .net are experiencing growth of around 21-22%, while .org, .biz, .eu, and .mobi are underperforming at around 12% and .info suffered a net loss in the number of domain names (- 7%). Overall, the French market grew by 19%, including all Top Level Domains. The .fr has gradually gained market share in France compared with the major generic domains, after a low point in 2000. At present, this dynamic seems to be slowing down to stabilise around 34%. Since relinquishing the right to name in May 2004, the .fr has always been placed before the .com, .net, .org, and .eu TLDs in terms of growth rates year on year, except for a short period of few months. - 21 -
  • 24. Part Two: .fr domain names Chapter 4 Number of .fr domain names ● Data source: AFNIC The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistical data on the registration of .fr domain names: the development in the number of registered names, the distribution between private individuals and legal entities, and the operations carried out (creations and deletions of names, name renewal rates). Number of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The growth curve for the total number of .fr domains clearly shows the impact of successive changes in the Naming Charter (removal of right to the name in May 2004 and opening to private individuals in June 2006). The momentum increased from 30,000 new names a year in the early 2000s, to 300,000 new names per year in 2010. On 1 July 2010, there were 1,762,704 .fr domain names registered in the AFNIC database. Growth over one year is slightly down: it hovered around 21% this year against 25% last year. These domain names are overwhelmingly registered directly under the .fr ccTLD, while about only 1% of them are registered in a sub-domain of level 2. In addition, all the sub-domains have regressed or stagnated over one year (-4%), with the exception of .gouv.fr (reserved for the French government), which continued to increase (+32%). It is worth noting that these figures only take into account the sub-domains directly managed by AFNIC, not the sector-based sub-domains delegated to other administrative authorities6. Changes in number of .fr domain names since 2000 (directly under the .fr Top Level Domain or a sub-domain managed by AFNIC) 2,000,000 Relinquishing the right Opening of .fr to name on .fr to private individuals 1,800,000 1,600,000 + 300,000 domain names / year 1,400,000 Number of domain names 1,200,000 1,000,000 + 120,000 800,000 domain names / year 600,000 + 30,000 domain names / year 400,000 200,000 0 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 ly ly ly ly ly ly ly ly ly ly ly n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Months Figure 7 – Growth in the total number of .fr domain names - 22 -
  • 25. Private individuals and legal entities • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The .fr domain names can be registered both by natural persons (private individuals) and legal entities (companies, associations, government agencies, etc.). Until June 2006, private individuals only could only register .fr domain names in sub-domains (nom.fr and com.fr); they can now file names directly under the national domain. The distribution between the two types of holders shows that a majority of them are still legal entities: in the first half of 2010, 62% of the domain names were registered by corporate bodies as against 38% by private individuals. In one year, the percentage held by individuals has nonetheless gained more than 2.5 points. The proportion of registrations made by individuals has also increased steadily: since opening in 2006 to private individuals, in half of the cases the registration of new names is performed by individuals (51% on average during the first half 2010). The mechanism with which the proportion of individuals has caught up seems to converge towards an asymptote at around 40%. Percentage of .fr domain names registered by private individuals since 2007 (cumulative number of new names and creations) 70% Creation of new .fr domain names 60% 50% registered by private individuals Percentage of .fr domain names 40% Cumulative number of .fr domain names 30% 20% Annual average (July 2009 - June 2010): private individuals hold 38% of .fr domain names and create 50.7% of new domain names 10% 0% 9 10 0 7 8 10 08 09 07 08 09 9 07 7 8 9 09 7 8 7 8 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 2 2 r. ne st st ne ne ne st ec r. r. r. br br br br ct ct ct ec ec Ap gu gu Ap Ap Ap gu Ju Fe Ju Fe Ju Ju Fe O O O D Fe D D Au Au Au Months Figure 8 – Percentage of .fr domain names registered by private individuals - 23 -
  • 26. Renewal of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The renewal rate represents the proportion of domain names that are renewed by their holders when they expire. For the .fr , this turnover rate is currently around 80%: this figure is very high compared with other TLDs, despite a slight decrease due to the dynamism of the domestic market (-2 points over one year). The curve also indicates a certain number of irregularities related to clearly identified limited phenomena, such as the decline observed in July 2007 (non-renewal of names registered one year earlier on the opening to private individuals) and in February 2009 (non-renewal of domain names recorded in January 2008 during a one-off promotional campaign by a major registrar). Renewal rate for .fr domain names since 2007 90% Annual average (July 2009 - June 2010): renewal rate of 80% (-2 points over one year) 86% 86% 86% 86% 85% 85% 84% 84% 84%84% 84% 83% 83% 83%83% 83% 83% 83% 84% 84% 82% 82%82% 82% 82% 82% Renewal rate of domain names 83% 81% 82% 80% 80% 80% 81% 81% 80% 79% 77% Trend curve 78% 79% 78% (excluding the impact of one-off operations) 77% 75% Non-renewal of domain names Non-renewal of domain names one year after the promotional operation one year after the opening to private individuals 72% by OVH in January 2008 70% in June 2006 69% 65% 7 8 9 0 07 08 09 07 08 09 10 7 8 9 07 09 08 10 7 8 9 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 0 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 st st st ne ne ne ne r. r. r. r. . br br br br ct ct ct ec ec ec gu gu gu Ap Ap Ap Ap Fe Ju Fe Ju Fe Ju Fe Ju O O O D D D Au Au Au Months Figure 9 – Renewal of .fr domain names - 24 -
  • 27. Chapter 5 Number of .fr domain names per holder ● Data source: Output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (number of names registered by private individuals and by legal entities). The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on the number of .fr domain names registered per holder, for each type of registrant (private individuals and legal entities). AFNIC strives to individually identify the holders of domain names in its database, by analysing the information provided when registering names. The same individual, however, may appear to be several different holders in the AFNIC database, if the person has registered domain names with different providers and provided different information in each record. This is also the case for companies when their domain names have been registered by different entities or affiliates and it has not been possible to link them. The numbers of holders output by the AFNIC database are therefore somewhat overestimated in relation to reality. The statistics presented in this chapter concerning the number of domain names per registrant must therefore be slightly lower than the actual values. Private individuals ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• A large majority of individual holders of .fr domain names have only one name under this Top Level Domain (79.5%). A small number of them own two .fr domain names (11.5%), the registration of three domain names ore more being much rarer. In one year, however, the percentage of private individuals with a single domain name has declined by more than one point while the percentage of holders of two domain names has gained 0.6 points. In June 2010 nearly 11,000 individuals each held more than 5 domain names. Since 2009, the number of private holders has increased by 24% and the number of names submitted by individuals by 26%. The average number of names per individual holder stands at 1.67 names per person (against 1.64 in 2009). - 25 -
  • 28. A few individuals have a very large number of domain names: these are probably domainers offering these names on the secondary market. Two of them each have close to 7,000 .fr names in their portfolios. Number of .fr domain names registered by private individual holders in July 2010 5 domain names; 0.9% 4 domain names; 1.8% More than 5 domain names; 2.6% 3 domain names; 3.6% 2 domain names; 11.5% Average: 1.67 .fr domain names per private individual holder 1 domain name; 79.5% (-1.5 point over one year) Figure 10 – Number of .fr domain names per holder for private individuals Legal entities • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The distribution of the number of names per registrant for legal entities is quite similar to that obtained for private individuals. The percentage of holders, however, with only one .fr domain name is slightly higher for legal entities with nearly 84% against 80% for private individuals. Here also, the percentage of corporations that hold a single domain is slightly down by 0.8 points. In June 2010, nearly 18,000 legal entities held more than 5 domain names. In one year, the number of corporate holders has increased by 15% and the number of names registered by legal entities by 17.5%. The average rose in 2010 to 1.75 names per holder (against 1.71 in 2009). Finally, a few corporate holders have a very large number of .fr domain names, two of them holding approximately 10,000 and 12,000 names respectively. There may be companies engaged in the activity of domainers on the secondary market for the French ccTLD. - 26 -
  • 29. Chapter 6 Lexicographical structure of .fr domain names ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a set of statistical data on the lexicographical structure of the .fr domain names present in the AFNIC database (length of name, presence of hyphens and numbers, the most commonly used terms, use of combinations of characters of the acronym type), as well as the proportion of various types of terms in the database (French words, French surnames and first names, names of municipalities, corporate names of companies and brands). Length of .fr domain names ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The figure below shows the distribution of the length of .fr domain names present in the AFNIC database (names directly under the .fr Top Level Domain without using a sub-domain, length without the “.fr” suffix). The most frequent length in 2010 was 9 characters, like last year: it was 8 in 2008. The average length has continuously risen by about 0.4 characters per year (11.3 in 2007 11.6 in 2008, 12 in 2009 and 12.4 this year). This development is a logical consequence of the increase in use of the extension, the shorter names being already taken and newcomers therefore registering longer names. The minimum length is 2 characters. All the combinations two characters long permitted by AFNIC (“figure figure”, “figure letter” and “letter figure”) were registered on 1 July 2010. The maximum size allowed by the charter is 63 characters (excluding the suffix). There are 9 .fr domain names of this length in the database: they consist of keywords added end to end, the aim being to improve their natural ranking by search engines. - 27 -
  • 30. Length of .fr domain names in July 2010 8% 7% Average length: 12.4 (against 12.0 in 2009) 6% Mean length: 11.1 (against 10.8 in 2009) Percentage of domain names 5% 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 Length Figure 11 – Length of .fr domain names Hyphens and numbers in .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Hyphens are widely used in .fr domain names: a quarter of the names contain a single hyphen, and more than a third of the names contain one or more. Figures are much less used: only about 6% of the names contain any. Names with two figures are more numerous than those with single digits, and those with four figures more than those containing three, probably due to the presence of the numbers of French departments and years in .fr domain names. Terms used in .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Domain names are sometimes created by their holders from generic terms. This study identifies the terms present in the .fr domain names as strings of alphabetic characters, preceded and followed where applicable by a non-alphabetic character (hyphen or number). For example, the “hotel-paris.fr” domain name would be taken into account for the terms “hotel” and “Paris”, but not the name “hotelparis.fr”. Among the terms most used in .fr domain names in 2010, excluding linking terms (articles, conjunctions, prepositions), the following are primarily found: • geographic terms (“france”, “paris”, “saint”), • terms related to real estate (“immobilier” [real estate], “maison” [house], “immo” [estate]), - 28 -
  • 31. • terms related to tourism, leisure activities and practical things (“hotel”, “location” [rental], “maison” [house], “auto” [car], “restaurant”, “art”), • terms related to services (“services”, “conseil” [advice], “formation” [training]), • computing terms (“web”, “informatique” [IT], “online”), • terms relating to municipalities (“mairie” and “ville” [city council] used in non-binding AFNIC naming conventions in the form of “mairie-commune.fr” and “ville-commune.fr” [where “commune” is the name of the city or the town]). Use of the terms “restaurant” and “paris” have risen sharply in a year with growth rates of 64% and 41% respectively. Conversely, the terms “mairie” and “ville” have dropped rather sharply in percentage over the last three years, which suggests that municipalities have increasingly tended to register their domain name without adding these two terms. Most frequently used terms in .fr domain names in July 2010 (excluding linking terms) france immobilier paris hotel location services web maison saint conseil mairie auto formation immo informatique ville groupe restaurant online art 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 Number of domain names containing the word Figure 12 – Main terms used in .fr domain names Years are also terms used in domain names. Logically, years passed have decreased (2008, 2009) while current and future years are more frequent (2010, 2011). The symbolic year 2000 is still seeing strong growth, as is 2012 (the year of the French presidential elections, and the Olympic Summer Games in London) and 2016 (French regional elections, Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, and the European Football Championship in France). In this way, we can evaluate the tendency of users to register names associated with event-specific operations but which may potentially recur from one year to the next. - 29 -
  • 32. Combinations registered as .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • This analysis concerns the combinations of 2 to 5 letters and/or numbers, given that combinations composed of only two characters are prohibited by the Naming Charter. These combinations are interesting to study because they may correspond to acronyms such as those of companies. The results indicate that combinations of two valid characters, with three letters or three figures have almost all been registered (in 2008, only 60% of the combinations of three numbers had been registered). The ratio falls to 46% for those three letters or numbers, and to 8% or less for longer combinations. These proportions are all on the increase since last year, especially the combinations of three letters, which are much appreciated by domainers (+ 7 points). Searches using various lists of terms • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following analysis examines the proportion of terms from different sources that had been registered as .fr domain names in July 2010: • French dictionary words, • French family names and first names, • The names of French municipalities, • The names of French and global companies or brands. Search terms can contain forbidden characters in .fr domain names (accented characters, spaces, punctuation signs, etc.). Accented characters are replaced by their unaccented equivalent, while the other forbidden characters and hyphens are either deleted or replaced with a hyphen. Thus, for the town of Pont l’Eveque, we have tested the four names “pontleveque”, “pont-leveque”, “pontl-eveque” and “pont-l-eveque”. French words registered as .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • We have used three lists of French words: • The list of the most frequently used words of the French language drawn up by the lexicographer Étienne Brunet (1,364 words)7, • The Dubois-Buyse spelling scale, containing a set of commonly used words supposedly known to every French adult as a result of gradual acquisition between primary and high school (3,725 words)8, • The list of French words drawn up by Christophe Pallier, as part of the Gutenberg Project by the University of Lausanne (336,527 words with plurals and conjugated forms in all the verb tenses)9. Note however that the conjugated forms of verbs are unlikely to be registered as .fr domain names. - 30 -
  • 33. The results indicate that, out of the complete dictionary of some 300,000 words in French, 10% are registered as .fr domain names (the ratio was 8% in 2007). This percentage is approaching 85% for the most current French words, up 9 points over the last three years. Percentage of French words registered as .fr domain names in July 2010 100% 90% +9 since 2007 +10 since 2007 80% Percentage of words regisrered as domain names 70% 60% 50% 84% 40% 79% 30% 20% +2 since 2007 10% 10% 0% Dictionary of the 1,500 most Dictionary of the 4,000 most Complete dictionary frequent words frequent words List of French words Figure 13 – Proportion of French words registered as .fr domain names Names of French municipalities registered as .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • This study is based on three lists: • The list of municipalities with over 30,000 inhabitants on 1 January 2007, according to Wikipedia10 (259 unique names), • The list of municipalities with over 20,000 inhabitants between 1982 and 2007, according to Wikipedia11 (461 unique names), • The list of municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants in 2006, according to the LEXILOGOS website (943 unique names)12, • The list of all the municipalities in France (metropolitan and overseas territories), obtained from the official geographic code of the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) (over 36,000 municipalities corresponding to 34,235 unique names after deleting duplicates)13. - 31 -
  • 34. The analysis identified whether the name of each municipality is included in the AFNIC base alone or preceded by the words “ville” or “mairie” used in the .fr naming conventions (with an optional separation hyphen). The results indicate that virtually all the names of municipalities with more than 10,000 people have been registered in the .fr TLD, the ratio exceeding one out of every three for all the municipalities in France (up 2 points since last year). It is worth noting that the names of municipalities have been protected by AFNIC since 2004, so that only the municipalities in question may register the corresponding names. Business names and trademarks registered as .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • This study is based on five lists: • The list of the 40 companies in the CAC 40 stock market index14, • The list of the 100 largest French companies according to their sales turnover in 2006, according to Wikipedia15, • The list of the leading 1,000 French companies according to their sales turnover, published by the website “L’Expansion.com”16, • The list of the leading 500 companies worldwide according to their sales turnover, published by “Fortune” magazine17, • The list of trademarks used in France, according to Wikipedia18 (approximately 2,500 trademarks). - 32 -
  • 35. The results indicate that all the names of CAC 40 companies have now been reserved under the .fr Top Level Domain (+ 3 points over a year). The same applies to 93 of the top 100 companies in France, and nearly 80% of the top 1,000. With regard to global companies that do not necessarily have a location in France, more than half have reserved their .fr domain name. Finally, three quarters of the trademarks used in France have also been registered in the national TLD. These figures have increased from one to two percentage points since last year. Percentage of company names and trademarks registered as .fr domain names in July 2010 +3 over one year 100% Companies Trademarks 90% +1 over one year Percentage of names registered as domain names 80% +1 over one year 70% 60% +2 over one year 50% 100% 93% 40% 79% 75% 30% 53% 20% 10% 0% CAC 40 Companies List of 100 largest French List of 1,000 largest French List of 500 largest List of 2,500 French companies companies companies worldwide brands List of companies or brands Figure 14 – Proportion of business names and trademarks registered as .fr domain names - 33 -
  • 36. Part Three: Holders Chapter 7 The location of private registrants of .fr domain names ● Data source: Output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (geographical distribution of domain names held by private individuals), INSEE statistics. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistical data on the geographical location of individuals (natural persons) holding .fr domain names, as well as the associated penetration rates (domain names per 1,000 inhabitants) and annual growth rates. Opening remarks • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Since location information is provided by the holders of .fr domain names, the AFNIC database contains some erroneous records, such as the numbers of non-existent French departments. These extremely minor errors have been excluded from the analysis. Because of the location method by zip code, the results provided in this study are aggregated in the case of Corsica (no distinction between departments 2A and 2B) and Guadeloupe (no distinction between Guadeloupe, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin). - 34 -
  • 37. Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The .fr country-code Top Level Domain is open to individuals of French nationality residing abroad since 16 March 2010. At the time of the extraction from the database in July 2010, 0.1% of the domain names (i.e. approximately 600 names) belonged to individuals living abroad in 54 different countries. More than a third of them were located in Belgium, nearly 15% in Switzerland and 60% in Europe. Distribution per country outside France of private individuals holding .fr domain names in July 2010 (opening of the .fr TLD to French citizens living abroad on 16 March 2010) Other countries 18.9% Belgium 36.3% Italy 2.2% Luxembourg 2.9% Canada 3.0% Spain 3.2% Germany 3.7% Israel 4.0% UK 5.4% USA 6.2% Switzerland 14.2% Figure 15 – Distribution per country of the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals 99% of the domain names located in France are in metropolitan France and 1% overseas. The national average is about 6,500 domain names per department and the mean value is 2,900, but with marked geographical differences: nearly 115,000 names for Paris against approximately 400 for the Lozère department. Unsurprisingly, there are high concentrations of registrants in the most densely populated departments. By themselves, the eight departments of the Ile-de-France concentrate 38% of the domain names registered in France by private individuals. Conversely, rural departments make up the top quartile. The Paris department represents over 16% of the individual holders of .fr domain names, far ahead of the departments following. The top 10 contain five departments in the Île de France region, and the other most densely populated departments in France: Rhone, Bouches-du-Rhone, Haute Garonne, Nord and Alpes- Maritimes. - 35 -
  • 38. Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following maps indicate the number of domain names registered by private individuals in relation to the population of the department in question, in domain names per 1,000 inhabitants. The population figures for the departments are derived from INSEE estimates on 1 January 200819, and various sources for the overseas territories (INSEE, Wikipedia). The national average is 7.6 names per 1,000 inhabitants, against 6 in 2009, again with marked disparities between departments (from 51 for Paris to 3 for the Haute-Marne). Compared with the statistics on the gross number of domain names, new departments appear in the bottom quartile: they are departments with lower population densities, but in which .fr domain names have been in high demand by private individuals in relation to the population (Charente -Maritime, Dordogne, Savoie, Drôme and Vaucluse). - 36 -
  • 39. Number of .fr domain names registered by individuals per 1,000 inhabitants (Metropolitan France) On July 1st 2010 93 62 59 75 92 80 94 76 02 08 60 50 14 95 57 27 55 51 78 54 61 77 67 91 29 22 28 10 35 53 88 56 52 68 72 45 89 44 21 70 41 49 37 25 18 58 Number of 79 36 71 39 domain names 85 86 per 1,000 inhabitants 03 Less than 5 23 01 74 5 to 6.5 17 87 69 16 63 42 73 6.5 to 8.8 19 38 24 15 43 More than 8.8 33 07 26 05 source 46 AFNIC 48 47 12 40 82 30 84 04 06 81 32 34 31 13 83 64 65 11 09 66 2B 2A Figure 16 – Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants (Metropolitan France) - 37 -
  • 40. The overseas departments are in the top quartile, except Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which has a rate of 6 .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants, close to the French mean of 6.5. Number of .fr domain names registered by individuals per 1,000 inhabitants (Overseas) On July 1st 2010 St Pierre and Miquelon New Caledonia Number of domain names per 1,000 inhabitants Less than 5 Mayotte Guadeloupe 5 to 6.5 6.5 to 8.8 Wallis and Futuna Islands More than 8.8 source AFNIC Martinique Reunion Island French Polynesia French Guiana Figure 17 – Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants (Overseas territories) The top 10 departments for the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants shows that Paris is still well head (51 names), followed once again by Hauts-de-Seine and Val-de-Marne. Some departments that were not present in the top 10 for the absolute number of registered names are now included: Hérault, Essonne and Bas-Rhin, where registration by private individuals has real momentum (12 at 14 names per 1,000 inhabitants). - 38 -
  • 41. Growth rate over one year • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following figure shows the growth rate over one year in the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals. The average growth in the number of names registered by individuals is close to 27%. Year’s percentage rise in the number of .fr domain names registered by individuals (Metropolitan France) On July 1st 2010 93 62 59 75 92 80 94 76 02 08 60 50 14 57 27 95 55 51 78 54 61 77 67 91 29 22 28 10 35 53 88 56 52 68 72 45 89 44 21 70 41 49 37 25 Percentage rise 18 58 per department 79 36 71 39 Less than 25% 85 86 03 25% to 28% 23 01 74 17 87 69 28% to 31% 16 63 42 73 More than 31% 19 38 24 15 43 source AFNIC 33 07 26 05 46 48 47 12 40 82 30 84 04 06 81 32 34 31 13 83 64 65 11 09 66 2B 2A Figure 18 – Annual growth rate in the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals (Metropolitan France) - 39 -
  • 42. In the overseas territories, French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique have growth rates over a year some 30% above the national average, while Saint Pierre and Miquelon and New Caledonia follow close behind with 26-28%. Year’s percentage rise in the number of .fr domain names registered by individuals (Overseas) On July 1st 2010 St Pierre and Miquelon New Caledonia Percentage rise per department Less than 25% Mayotte 25% to 28% Guadeloupe 28% to 31% More than 31% Wallis and Futuna Islands source AFNIC Martinique Reunion Island French Polynesia French Guiana Figure 19 – Annual growth rate in the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals (Overseas territories) The list of the top 10 departments for the annual growth rate reflects a strong registration momentum among private individuals in these departments. The annual growth rate exceeds 40% in three French departments: Haute-Saône, Aisne and Val-de-Marne. Besides the fact that departments with lower population densities are catching the others up, this table also shows the departments that are already well positioned and that are consolidating their lead, such as Val-de-Marne and to a lesser extent, Aude. - 40 -
  • 43. Chapter 8 The location of legal entities registrants of .fr domain names ● Data source: Output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (geographical distribution of domain names held by legal entities), INSEE statistics. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistical data on the geographical location of legal entities (companies, associations, government agencies, etc.) holding .fr domain names, as well as the associated penetration rates (domain names per 1,000 companies) and annual growth rates. Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The AFNIC Charter implies that corporations registering an .fr domain name must have their registered office or a facility located in France, or hold a trademark in France, or hold an EU or international trademark covering France. A large majority of the corporate holders of .fr domain names are located in France (98.1%). Companies located abroad (holders of trademarks covering France) are located in 90 different countries, mostly in the European Union (75%) or in North America (17%). Only 8% of them are located in another region of the world. Germany made rapid progress this year: its market share in .fr domain names registered abroad has nearly doubled in one year (from 18% to 35%), probably due to a German domainer holding a large portfolio of names. Mechanically, the other countries have dropped in the rankings, except Belgium, which has continued to rise. - 41 -
  • 44. Distribution per country outside France of legal entities holding .fr domain names in July 2010 Other countries 8.1% Sweden 2.2% Spain 2.3% Italy 2.5% Switzerland 4.4% Germany 34.6% (+16.6 points over one year) Belgium 4.6% Denmark 6.1% Netherlands 8.6% UK 9.8% USA 16.7% Figure 20 – Distribution per country of the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities The national average for the number of .fr domain names registered by corporations is approximately 10,000 names per department against 8,600 in 2009, and the mean this year stands at 4,200 names. Here also there are major disparities between the highly industrialised departments (18% of the domain names are located in Paris and 37% for the whole of the Île-de-France region) and rural departments (less than 0.1% in Creuse and Lozère). The breakdown by department for corporations is also very close to the corresponding distribution for private individuals. Two departments, however, appear in the bottom quartile for corporations when they were not included for individuals: Maine-et-Loire and Charente-Maritime, where the corporate market seems comparatively more dynamic than that for private individuals. As far as overseas territories are concerned, Reunion Island is located in the first half of the French departments for the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities, with approximately 8,000 names. Martinique and Guadeloupe follow in the rankings with more than 2,000 names. The top 10 departments for corporations consist essentially of the same departments as for private individuals, but in a different order. Haute-Garonne is comparatively better placed on the corporate market, while Val-de-Marne is better ranked on the private individual market. - 42 -
  • 45. Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following maps represent the number of domain names registered by corporations per 1,000 companies by the department. The number of companies per department is based on INSEE statistics from 1 January 2009 concerning the scope of trading activities other than agriculture20. This consists of business units involved in real economic activity in all the commercial sectors of industry, construction, trade and services. It excludes business units whose operation is not financed by a commercial activity (government, local authorities, social organisations, non-commercial associations, etc.), as well as agriculture, forestry and fishing. The national average is 260 corporate names per 1,000 legal entities against 230 in 2009 (to compare with the average of 7.6 individuals’ names per 1,000 inhabitants). Once again, we find large disparities between departments, the first (Haute-Garonne with 830 names for 1,000 companies) has nearly 20 times more than the last (Guadeloupe with 48 names for 1,000). In addition, several departments appear in the bottom quartile when they were not included in the gross number of domain names for corporations (le Loiret, Indre-et-Loire, les Deux-Sèvres, Côte-d’Or and Loire), where the corporate market is experiencing a significant upswing. - 43 -
  • 46. Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies (Metropolitan France) On July 1st 2010 93 62 59 75 92 80 94 76 02 08 60 50 14 57 27 95 55 51 78 54 61 77 67 91 29 22 28 10 35 53 88 56 52 68 72 45 89 44 21 70 41 49 37 25 Number of 18 58 domain names per 1,000 companies 79 36 71 39 Less than 200 85 86 03 200 to 230 23 01 74 17 87 69 230 to 290 16 63 42 73 More than 290 19 38 24 15 43 source AFNIC 33 07 26 05 46 48 47 12 40 82 30 84 04 06 81 32 34 31 13 83 64 65 11 09 66 2B 2A Figure 21 – Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies (Metropolitan France) - 44 -
  • 47. The results for the overseas territories only cover the four departments with usable statistics on company numbers. Reunion Island is at the bottom of the second quartile, with just over 200 names for 1,000 companies. Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies (Overseas) On July 1st 2010 Number of Guadeloupe Reunion Island domain names per 1,000 companies Less than 200 200 to 230 230 to 290 More than 290 Martinique source French Guiana AFNIC Figure 22 – Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies (Overseas) The list of the top 10 departments for the number of corporate domain name registrations per 1,000 firms is similar to that for the absolute number of such registrations, but there are three new departments (Bas-Rhin, Moselle, and Maine-et-Loire). Haute-Garonne and Hauts-de-Seine rank higher than Paris in the classification for the number of domain names per 1,000 companies, for reasons that are perhaps different (there is a major domainer in Haute-Garonne, and in Hauts-de-Seine there are many corporate headquarters that are potential holders of large portfolios of names). - 45 -
  • 48. Growth rate over one year • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The figure below shows the last year’s percentage rise in the number of .fr domain names registered by corporate bodies. The national average growth for the year was 20%, very similar to the 21% observed in 2009. Year’s percentage rise in the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities (Metropolitan France) On July 1st 2010 93 62 59 75 92 80 94 76 02 08 60 50 14 95 57 27 55 51 78 54 61 77 67 91 29 22 28 10 35 53 88 56 52 68 72 45 89 44 21 70 41 49 37 25 18 58 Percentage rise per department 79 36 71 39 Less than 17% 85 86 03 17% to 19.5% 23 01 74 17 87 69 19.5% to 23% 16 63 42 73 More than 23% 19 38 24 15 43 source AFNIC 33 07 26 05 46 48 47 12 40 82 30 84 04 06 81 32 34 31 13 83 64 65 11 09 66 2B 2A Figure 23 – Annual percentage increase in the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities (Metropolitan France) - 46 -
  • 49. In 2010, many departments or local authorities overseas showed annual growth rates higher than 30%: Reunion Island, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna Islands, Martinique and Mayotte. Year’s percentage rise in the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities (Overseas) On July 1st 2010 St Pierre and Miquelon New Caledonia Percentage rise per department Less than 17% Mayotte Guadeloupe 17% to 19.5% 19.5% to 23% Wallis and Futuna Islands More than 23% source AFNIC Martinique Reunion Island French Polynesia French Guiana Figure 24 – Annual percentage increase in the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities (Overseas) Among the highest annual growth rates for the number of domain names held by corporations, some departments with low results have caught up the lag (New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, Mayotte), but also other departments with better results, which have reinforced their position (Haute-Savoie and Var). - 47 -
  • 50. Chapter 9 Location of private individual and legal entities holding .fr domain names ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (geographical distribution of domain names held by private individuals and legal entities). The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on the geographical location of .fr domain name holders, whether they are private individuals or corporate bodies), and the corresponding annual growth rates. Total number of .fr domain names (private individuals and legal entities). ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The national average for the number of domain names registered per department including all types of holders is about 16,600 domain names against 13,800 in 2009. The mean value is approximately 7,500 domains per department. Logically enough, the disparities observed in both the private individual and legal entity markets can be seen on the global market: Paris leads with about 310,000 domain names, while there are only 1,200 in the Creuse and Lozère departments. The most dynamic departments on the global market are virtually the same as on the legal entity market, and remain the majority for the .fr Top Level Domain. - 48 -
  • 51. Total number of .fr domain names (Metropolitan France) On July 1st 2010 93 62 59 75 92 80 94 76 02 08 60 50 14 57 27 95 55 51 78 54 61 77 67 91 29 22 28 10 35 53 88 56 52 68 72 45 89 44 21 70 41 Number of 49 domain names 37 25 per department 18 58 Less than 3,500 79 36 71 39 85 86 3,500 to 7,500 03 23 01 74 7,500 to 15,000 17 87 69 16 63 More than 15,000 42 73 19 38 source 24 15 43 AFNIC 33 07 26 05 46 48 47 12 40 82 30 84 04 06 81 32 34 31 13 83 64 65 11 09 66 2B 2A Figure 25 – Total number of .fr domain names (Metropolitan France) - 49 -
  • 52. Overseas, Guadeloupe and Martinique each have about 3,800 .fr domain names, with very similar weights on the market for private individuals and for legal entities (around 0.2% of the total number in France). As for Reunion Island, its portfolio of nearly 11,000 names focuses more on the corporate market (weight of 0.8%) than that for private individuals (0.4%). Total number of .fr domain names (Overseas) On July 1st 2010 St Pierre and Miquelon New Caledonia Number of domain names per department Less than 3,500 Mayotte Guadeloupe 3,500 to 7,500 7,500 to 15,000 Wallis and Futuna Islands More than 15,000 source AFNIC Martinique Reunion Island French Polynesia French Guiana Figure 26 – Total number of .fr domain names (Overseas territories) In the top 10 departments for the total number of .fr domain names, we find most of the departments that already figured among the top 10 for corporate registrations, and in exactly the same order. In 2010, Paris continued to concentrate almost 18% of French domain names and Île-de-France 37%, the phenomenon of concentration regressing, however, over the years (19% and 39% two years ago). - 50 -
  • 53. Chapter 10 Ages of individual holders of .fr domain names. ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (dates of birth of individual holders), INSEE statistics. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on individual holders of .fr domain names (the age pyramid and changes to same). Age pyramid of individual holders of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • This study uses ages on January 1. In addition, since the dates of birth are provided by holders when registering their domain name, the AFNIC database contains a small percentage of outliers for ages (approximately 0.3%, from -57 to 119 years of age). This study does not take into account values below 18 years of age (in accordance with the AFNIC Charter, which requires that holders be adult) and, more arbitrarily, those above 90 years of age. Certain values of the age pyramid seem to be over-represented: they probably correspond to the default values of the registrars’ software interfaces, which holders do not change (either deliberately or not) when they register their domain name. For instance, 39 years (year of birth: 1970), is an over-represented age, doubtless because 1 January 1970 is the start date for a certain number of operating systems (Unix). The mean age of name holders in 2010 is 38. The mean age was 36: there are as many holders aged under 36 as those aged over 36. The average age and the mean age have both increased five months since 2009, while the number of holders increased by 24.4% over the same period. A comparison of this age pyramid with that for the French population based on INSEE statistics (metropolitan France and Overseas departments) shows that historical events have had a similar impact on both curves: the deficit of births during the Second World War, and the baby boom which followed from 1946 to 1973 (36 to 63 age groups). Earlier events (the Great War) are not visible on the holder curve, because of the lesser use of domain names by senior citizens. - 51 -
  • 54. There is also a change in statistical behaviour at 48 years of age: before that age, holders of .fr domain names are proportionally more numerous in their age group than in the general population, while after it the ratio is reversed. Comparison of age pyramids for private individual holders of .fr domain names and the French population in 2010 (aged 18 to 90) 4.5% More holders than private individuals Fewer holders than private individuals 4.0% End of (holders of domain names or French population) baby boom Private individual holders 3.5% French population 3.0% Percentage of Sample Baby boom World War II 2.5% 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0.0% 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 Ages of individuals Figure 27 – Comparison of age pyramids for individual holders of .fr domain names, and the French population The mean is 8.2 domain names per 1,000 inhabitants for the whole population in 2010 (against 6.6 in 2009), while the maximum is around 30 years with 16.8 names per 1,000 inhabitants (excluding overestimated values). The curve rises quickly between the age of majority and this maximum, and then declines steadily with the number of years. - 52 -
  • 55. Changes in the ages of individual holders of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Growth in the number of holders remained strong in 2010 (24.4%), although it has experienced a slowdown over one year (36% in 2009). The mean age of holders of .fr domain names has increased 5 months in one year, from 35.5 to 36. This change, however, is closely linked to the natural aging of the population of holders (+12 months). Excluding demographics, the trend is still negative (-7 months), indicating that it is the younger age groups which remain the main drivers for growth of the Top Level Domain. Changes over one year of private individuals holding .fr domain names (aged 18 to 90) Change due to Change excl. Characteristic 2009 2010 Overall change demographics demographics Number of persons 329,499 409,799 0.0% 24.4% 24.4% Mean age 35.5 36.0 12 months -7 months 5 months Table 2 – Annual change in the ages of individual holders of .fr domain names The distribution of individual holders per age group is gradually changing because of the natural aging of the population. For instance, the number of people aged 34-50 years increased in 2010 in relation to those aged 18-34 years (41.5% and 40.6% in June), when the ratio up until the present date was the opposite. In relative terms, older age groups are little represented, standing at 18% of the population, but they increased slightly (+0.5 points over one year). Excluding demographics, the rate of growth in the number of domain names per age group is higher than that for the average population (24.4%) from 19 to 30 years of age, and even reaches very high values up to 26 years of age, with annual growth rates above 30%. If we exclude the demographic factor, this rate of growth remains close to the average for the 31 to 38 age group, and then drops below it from age 39 onwards. Indeed, growth over one year was less than 20% after 47 years of age. - 53 -
  • 56. Part Four: Registrars Chapter 11 Registrars of .fr domain names ● Data source: Historical AFNIC data (changes in number of registrars since 1996) and data from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (distribution of registrars per country and per French department). The purpose of chapter is to provide certain items of information about the registrars of .fr domain names, including their number, changes over time and geographical distribution. Number of registrars of .fr domain names ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• At the end of June 2010 there were 802 registrars of .fr domain names in all. Over the last year this number has fallen by approximately 70 providers (or a drop of 8% as in 2009). The number of registrars grew very fast until the end of 2001; it then dropped for a few years when the dotcom bubble burst. Since June 2006, when individuals began to be able to register .fr names, the market has restructured: some smaller registrars have become resellers for registrars who handle larger portfolios of names, which has reduced the overall number of registrars. Changes in the number of registrars of .fr domain names since 1997 1,400 Creation Explosion of the Right to name Opening of .fr of AFNIC Internet bubble relinquished on .fr to private individuals 1,200 1,154 1,106 1,076 1,057 1,047 1,026 1,031 1,051 1,039 1,031 1,018 1,001 992 985 962 960 952 1,000 890 874 814 802 800 758 Number of registrars 652 600 498 441 400 311 277 179 200 0 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 .9 .9 .9 .9 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec ec Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Months Figure 28 – Changes in the number of registrars of .fr domain names - 54 -
  • 57. A breakdown of registrars by nationality reveals that the increase in concentration has affected French providers, the numbers of foreign registrars remaining more stable over time. Over the last year, the number of registrars has fallen by 64 in France ( 8%), and by 8 abroad (-7%). Location of registrars of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following figure shows the distribution of registrars per French department. The national average is 6.6 registrars per department (against 7 in 2009), with marked discrepancies. The departments in the bottom quartile, which have more than 6 registrars, are those of the largest French cities (Paris and Île-de-France, Lyon, Marseille, Grenoble, Lille, Nice, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nantes, Rennes, Mulhouse, Brest, Tours, Orleans). With 127 providers, Paris alone concentrates 19% of the registrars of .fr domain names, and the eight departments in the Île de France region contain 38% of them. Conversely, only 17 departments have only one registrar, and 13 have none (Ardennes, Cher, Dordogne, Haute-Saone, Hautes-Alpes, Loir-et-Cher, Lot, Lozère, Nièvre, and in the overseas territories, Mayotte, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna). - 55 -
  • 58. Since 2009, most departments have remained stable or have lost a limited number of providers. The most marked declines over the past year were in Paris (-16), Gironde (-6) and Val-de-Marne (-5). Breakdown of registrars of .fr domain names (Metropolitan France) On July 1st 2010 93 62 59 75 92 80 94 76 02 08 60 50 14 57 27 95 55 51 78 54 61 77 67 91 29 22 28 10 35 53 88 56 52 68 72 45 89 44 21 70 Number 41 49 of registrar(s) 37 25 per department 18 58 0 or 1 79 36 71 39 85 86 2 to 3 03 23 01 74 4 to 6 17 87 69 16 63 More than 6 42 73 19 38 source 24 15 43 AFNIC 33 07 26 05 46 48 47 12 40 82 30 84 04 06 81 32 34 31 13 83 64 65 11 09 66 2B 2A Figure 29 – Distribution of registrars of .fr domain names (Metropolitan France) - 56 -
  • 59. Among the French registrars, approximately 2% are located overseas: there are five providers in Reunion Island, 4 in Martinique and one in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Breakdown of registrars of .fr domain names (Overseas) On July 1st 2010 St Pierre and Miquelon New Caledonia Number of registrar(s) per department Mayotte 0 or 1 Guadeloupe 2 to 3 Wallis and Futuna Islands 4 to 6 More than 6 source Martinique AFNIC Reunion Island French Polynesia French Guiana Figure 30 – Distribution of registrars of .fr domain names (Overseas territories) - 57 -
  • 60. Among the top ten departments in terms of registrar numbers, Paris heads the list with twice as many registrars as the runner-up, Hauts-de-Seine. Alongside four departments in the Greater Paris region, we find (not surprisingly) the departments which have the most heavily populated towns or those which are most enthusiastically adopting new technology: Lyon, Marseille, Grenoble, Lille, Nice and Strasbourg. These 10 departments alone account for more than half of all French registrars. Among the registrars of .fr domain names, 14.5% are located outside France. Nearly three quarters of the foreign providers are members of the European Union and 10% are located in North America. Location of registrars of .fr domain names outside France in July 2010 Other countries; 12 Australia; 2 Germany; 24 Sweden; 3 Canada; 3 Monaco; 4 Luxembourg; 4 Belgium; 13 Italy; 6 Denmark; 6 Netherlands; 12 Switzerland; 8 USA; 8 UK; 11 Figure 31 – Distribution of registrars of .fr domain names outside France - 58 -
  • 61. Chapter 12 Services and prices offered by registrars ● Data source: Websites of the 30 top registrars of .fr domain names in terms of the numbers of names managed (checks carried out in September 2010). The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on the services offered by the leading registrars of .fr domain names, and the prices they charge. The details were collected in September 2010 from the websites of the 30 registrars handling the largest numbers of .fr domain names. Since these 30 registrars together manage 87% of the domain names in the .fr zone, the results obtained from them would seem to be reasonably representative of the overall market. Services offered by registrars • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Registrars’ offerings differ in many ways. Firstly, the number of domains available for registration is very variable. Some offer only a limited number: the main gTLDs .com/.net/.org/.biz/.info; the ccTLDs .fr and .re (Reunion Island) and the European domain .eu; also frequently .mobi (mobile devices), and other French language ccTLDs such as .be (Belgium). Other registrars have a wider range, covering dozens of TLDs. Lastly, there are far fewer which claim to offer registration under all of the available Top Level Domains (around 250). Only 20% of the registrars studied include web hosting in their basic domain name package; the amount of space varies considerably (from 1 MB to 2 GB). Others offer hosting as an additional service at an extra charge. E-mail hosting is likewise often bundled with the basic package (in 40% of the cases, the space provided ranges from 100 MB to 25 GB). Most offers also include web and e-mail redirection services in connection with the registered domain name. On the other hand, security services associated with an e-mail address (anti-virus and anti-spam) appear to be included in only one out of four basic packages. The other services offered in basic and/or supplementary packages are tools for creating web sites, a webmail service associated with the e-mail addresses, and search engine optimisation for websites. Some registrars also offer an anonymous Whois service so that the customer’s personal details need not appear in the Whois directories (a default function for individuals in the .fr domain). Lastly, some registrars offer professional portfolio management services for large accounts: pre-registration checks on priority and other research, post-registration monitoring, legal advice and redress services for cases of cybersquatting, etc. - 59 -
  • 62. Registrars’ charges • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The price taken into account in this study is the fee for the renewal of a domain name for one year, excluding additional services, rebates, and temporary promotional offers. Some of the registrars analysed do not provide information online on their tariffs and therefore were not included in this study (primarily the business market). It should also be noted that corporate customers may benefit from preferential rates lower than the published tariffs displayed, as part of other business negotiations. The figure below shows the range of annual fees charged in September 2010 by the registrars studied for .fr domain names. As with the services provided, the scale of the fees charged is extremely wide, ranging from € 5 to approximately € 160 plus VAT. The mean for the sample of 30 top registrars was €12 plus VAT, which means there are as many offers above as below € 12). In addition, the weighted average per market share of registrars this year was equal to € 13.50, a figure which has been dropping for the last two years (€ 15 in 2008 and then € 14 in 2009). Compared with the 2009 study, the prices of the providers surveyed have experienced differing trends: they are stable in almost 60% of the offers, but have risen in 25% of the cases, and have dropped in 15% of the cases. The wide range of fees charged is due both to the variety of market segments catered for (general public, SMEs/micro-enterprises, large corporations, domain name resellers), and to the value-added services which may be associated with the domain name in a package deal: these may be technical services (web hosting, e-mail accounts, etc.), legal services (priority searches, surveillance, name recovery, legal assistance, etc.) or marketing services (SEO, etc.). In addition, two-thirds of the registrars studied offered volume discounts for longer registration periods and/or the number of names purchased, particularly in the case of domain name resellers. - 60 -
  • 63. Prices for .fr domain names in September 2010 per registrar (Study of the top 30 registrars in terms of the number of registered domain names) 4.99 € 6.90 € 6.99 € Mean rate: 6.99 € € 12 excl. VAT in 2010 8.45 € (unchanged since 2008, € 17 in 2007) 9.00 € 11.88 € Average weighted price per market share 12.00 € for registrars: 12.00 € € 13.5 excl. VAT in 2010 12.00 € (against € 14 in 2009 and € 15 in 2008) Registrar 12.00 € 14.40 € 18.00 € 23.90 € 28.00 € 29.00 € 35.00 € 59.40 € 69.00 € 160.00 € 0€ 20 € 40 € 60 € 80 € 100 € 120 € 140 € 160 € 180 € Annual price in euros excl. VAT (basic offer) Figure 32 – Rates for .fr domain names The mean price of the European domain .eu, which until now continued to be a little more expensive than the others, fell 15% year on year, while the prices for other Top Level Domains remained relatively stable. Mean prices are now almost identical for all the TLDs studied, standing at around € 12 plus VAT per year. Many of the main providers have aligned the prices of the most common TLDs, among other reasons, for clarity to their clients. The rates for the .fr TLD are the same or lower than those for the .com TLD in 70% of the offers studied, corresponding to 80% of the domain names managed. - 61 -
  • 64. Chapter 13 Analysis of the registrar market ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 (number of domain names per holder type and per registrar), Dot and Co statistics (ICANN-accredited registrars). The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the registrar market for the .fr and generic Top Level Domains, using different methods (HHI and CR econometric indices, catchment areas). Market for registrars of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • In July 2010, of the 765 accredited registrars of .fr domain names managing at least one domain, almost all (754) manage domain names registered by corporations while only 507 have a portfolio of names registered by private individuals. However, the number of providers making offers to individuals has grown over the year (+6%), while it continues to fall in the professional sector (-8%). Market for individuals The average number of .fr domain names registered by individuals per registrar is 1,350 (against 1,130 in 2008), but with considerable discrepancies between the various registrars. While some 30 providers manage portfolios with more than 1,000 names, more than half of the registrars manage fewer than 10 names. The individuals’ market, then, features a long tail of very small registrars, alongside a few really big players. The number of registrars managing less than 10 domains fell, however, by 3 points over one year, to the benefit of those managing between 10 and 100 domains. The following table indicates the value of the concentration indices for the private individual market. Indices of the “CRi” type (Concentration Ratio) represent the cumulative market share of the “i” top players in the market. In this case, the main player represents more than 30% of the overall market (CR1), the first four holding nearly three-quarters of the market (CR4) and the top ten having a market share approaching 90% (CR10). Changes in these ratios over the last year show that the market share held by the top four and top ten players has grown less than that of the top registrar (+3 percentage points): the concentration in the private individual market has therefore basically benefitted the market leader at the expense of its direct competitors. - 62 -
  • 65. The HHI (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index) is calculated as the sum of the squares of the market shares of all the players involved. It can range from 0 (very competitive market) to 1 (a monopoly), and is used by the competition authorities to study the potential consequences of mergers and takeovers. The HHI is close to 0.19 on the market for individuals, when it was equal to 0.17 last year: this means that between 2009 and 2010 the market switched from the “moderately concentrated” state to the “concentrated” state (i.e. an HHI greater than 0.18). This concentration has been going on for several years, however: the index rose from 0.13 in 2007 to 0.19 three years later. Market for .fr domain names in 2010 - Private individuals Parameter 2010 2009 Change Number of registrars 507 479 6% Number of domain names 685,075 541,761 26% Ave. nb domain names / registrar 1,351 1,131 19% Concentration index 2010 2009 Change CR1 32.0% 29.0% 3.0 CR4 73.9% 71.5% 2.4 CR10 88.2% 87.3% 0.9 HHI 0.187 0.170 0.017 The private individual market in 2010 changed from “moderately concentrated” to “concentrated” (HHI ≥ 0.18). Table 3 – Concentration indices for the market for .fr domain names registered by private individuals Corporate market With regard to the corporate market, the characteristics of the distribution of registrars in relation to the number of domain names managed are very different from those of the private individual market: the market share held by very small players (fewer than 10 names) represents a minority (92) of the registrars, while the largest group concerns providers of average size, managing between 10 and 100 names (321 registrars). The share of providers with more than 1,000 domain names in their portfolio showed a slight increase over last year (+2 points at 11%, against 9% in 2009). The concentration indices show that the corporate market is considerably less concentrated than that for private individuals. The “Concentration Ratio” indices are all lower: CR1 is 24% as against 32%, CR4 is 49% against 74%, and CR10 is 68% against 88%. Similarly, the HHI for the corporate market stands at 0.09, against 0.19 in the private individual market. Though the corporate market continues not to be concentrated at present (HHI below 0.1), all the indices over the past year have nevertheless move towards greater concentration. - 63 -
  • 66. It also worth noting that the top registrar gained 2.7 percentage points over the year, representing most of the gains in market share realised by the top four or the top ten players (between 3 and 4 percentage points). The concentration process is therefore of greatest benefit to the top player, and of much less benefit to the three following players, and to the detriment of the other competitors. The phenomenon is less marked, however, than for the providers operating in the private individual market. Market for .fr domain names in 2010 - Legal entities Parameter 2010 2009 Change Number of registrars 754 824 -8% Number of domain names 1,084,053 921,588 18% Ave. nb domain names / registrar 1,438 1,118 29% Concentration index 2010 2009 Change CR1 24.3% 21.6% 2.7 CR4 48.6% 44.9% 3.7 CR10 67.8% 64.4% 3.3 HHI 0.089 0.074 0.014 The legal entities market concentrated in 2010 but remained “non-concentrated” (HHI < 0.1). Table 4 – Concentration indices for the market for .fr domain names registered by legal entities - 64 -
  • 67. Overall market (private individuals and legal entities) The distribution of the registrars in relation to the number of domain names managed (including private individuals and legal entities) is similar to that for the corporate market alone. The largest players (between 100 and 1,000 domains and over 1,000 domains) saw slight growth during the year (one and two points) at the expense of the smaller players, reflecting the overall growth in the .fr ccTLD. Ranking of registrars in terms of the number of .fr domain names they manage in July 2010 (for private individuals and legal entities) 1,000 domain names or more; From 1 to 9 domain name(s); 91 registrars; 80 registrars; 10% 12% In July 2010: 765 registrars manage 1,769,128 domain names From 10 to 99 domain names; 308 registrars; From 100 to 999 domain names; 41% 286 registrars; 37% Figure 33 – Ranking of registrars in relation to the total number of .fr domain names The concentration indices for the overall market show intermediate values between those of the individual and corporate markets considered separately, but are closer to the corporate market. The changes in the HHI indicate that the overall market remained moderately concentrated in 2010, while continuing its trend towards concentration. - 65 -
  • 68. The top registrar has gained about 3 points on 1 year, representing most of the gains in market share of the top four players taken as a whole and more than the top ten. Growth in market share for the leading service provider seems to be to the detriment of the following players, which is already the case for each market taken in isolation. Global market for .fr domain names in 2010 Parameter 2010 2009 Change Number of registrars 765 828 -8% Number of domain names 1,769 128 1,463,349 21% Ave. nb domain names / registrar 2,313 1,767 31% Concentration index 2010 2009 Change CR1 27.3% 24.3% 3.0 CR4 58.3% 54.8% 3.6 CR10 73.6% 71.0% 2.6 HHI 0.118 0.100 0.018 The global market concentrated and remained “moderately concentrated” in 2010 (HHI between 0.1 and 0.18). Table 5 – Concentration indices for the overall market for .fr domain names (private individuals and legal entities included) The figure below shows the top 30 registrars of .fr domain names in volumes of domain names managed (including private individuals and legal entities). The top registrars in terms of volume are widely present on the private individual market, with ratios of the order or 40% or more. Conversely, a dozen of the top 30 providers are almost entirely involved in the corporate market (less than 10% of the private individual market). - 66 -
  • 69. The growth rates over one year are highly variable, some players posting increases above the average for the ccTLD (21%) and even up to 57%, while others remain stable. Among the main players in these rankings, NordNet has gained one place and Pages Jaunes have gained two since 2009. Top 30 registrars in terms of the number of .fr domain names managed in July 2010 OVH 1&1 267,105 483,233 Gandi 203,543 Amen 77,949 Online 62,336 NordNet 48,238 EuroDNS 45,099 Namebay 44,555 PagesJaunes 35,244 France Télécom 34,240 INDOM 29,921 LWS 20,763 Melbourne IT 17,617 Netissime 16,699 Web Intelligence 13,898 Nameshield 13,309 Mailclub 13,241 Cronon AG 12,632 Viaduc 10,281 United-Domains 9,444 Linkeo 9,302 Hosteur 8,741 Ascio 8,308 Tucows 8,147 NFrance Conseil 7,254 Arsys 7,159 Neuf Cegetel 6,413 Domaine.fr 6,216 Drim 6,056 CSC 5,858 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 400,000 450,000 500,000 Number of domain names managed Figure 34 – Main registrars ranked by the overall number of .fr domain names Changes in the market for registrars of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Changes in the stock of domain names managed The concentration indices (CR1, CR4, CR10 and HHI) all showed a peak at the end of 2000, which seems to have been related to a promotion for the sub-domain “.nom.fr” in December of that year (domain names offered free of charge for one year). The biggest market players would appear to have reaped most of the rewards of this promotion, for their market shares rose and with them – as a direct consequence – the concentration of the overall market. Mechanisms such as mergers and takeovers among market operators may also have been involved. A considerable proportion of the “free” names will not have been renewed afterwards, which would have tended to return the various concentration indices towards their normal levels. - 67 -
  • 70. The market then gradually concentrated until the end of 2003. The greater flexibility of the Charter in May 2004 (ending the “right to the name”) immediately triggered a process of market de-concentration. Then, in a move in the opposite direction, concentration can be seen to have risen once more up to the time when .fr was first made available to individuals, in June 2006: this will have been due to the arrival of new registrars in the market, selling to the general public and handling large numbers of names. The indices have not stopped rising since then: we are now seeing levels of concentration similar to those observed during the late 2000 peak, but with other registrars in play. Those registrars which had the majority of the market at the start of the decade have been caught up by newcomers who have become active in this market much more recently, especially in the individuals segment after the .fr domain became available to individuals in 2006. Developments in the registration of new domain names The graph below shows a comparison of changes in the HHI concentration indices of the stock of .fr domain names and of new names registered each month. The snapshot concentration figure is distinctly higher for new name registrations that for total name numbers, meaning that the overall market is steadily becoming more concentrated month by month. If the market in terms of the stock of domain names switched in the summer of 2009 to the “moderately concentrated” state, for the past year it has been regularly flirting with the “concentrated” state in terms of creating new names. Change in HHI concentration indices on the stock of .fr domain names and the creation of .fr domain names per month concentrated 0.20 Market HHI for creations of domain name Values of the HHI index (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index) 0.18 Market moderately concentrated 0.16 0.14 0.12 HHI for the stock of domain names 0.10 concentrated Market non 0.08 0.06 08 09 ch 9 10 8 9 09 ay 0 Ap 09 8 8 9 9 Ja 008 9 ne 0 A p 10 08 09 08 09 10 ch 0 08 09 Fe 0 9 00 00 00 1 00 00 00 00 00 1 01 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 ne ne r. r. st st n. ly ly ay ay br ct ct ov pt ec pt ov ec n. br Ju Ju gu gu Ja Ju Ju O O Ju ar M ar Se Se M M Fe N D N D M Au Au M Months Figure 35 – Changes in concentration indices for the registration market of .fr domain names in terms of the stock of names managed, and new names registered - 68 -
  • 71. As far as the monthly registration of new domain names is concerned, the top player stands out from the crowd by maintaining its fairly steady market share of 35% since late 2008. The next two are around 15% each, and other competitors do not exceed the 6% mark. The direct result is concentration mainly to the benefit of the market leader. It should be noted however that one player on the corporate market has increased its market share in domain name registrations from 2% to 6% in a few months, with the launch of new hosting offers for small and medium size companies. Catchment areas of registrars of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following study analyses the size of catchment areas of registrars of .fr domain names on the markets for private individuals and legal entities (the number of departments covered by the customer base of each provider in metropolitan France). The objective of this analysis is to assess the commercial scope of registrars, with the initial intuition that a small number covers the whole of the national territory and that a large majority has only a regional or local audience. Naturally, the strategies of the registrars will differ according to their catchment area: “global” players will adopt different models to those of “proximity” players, the key to analysis being complemented by the dichotomy between registrars targeting the corporate sector or large accounts, and registrars targeting private individuals and very small companies. - 69 -
  • 72. Private individual market Among the 82 providers managing over 100 domains on the private individual market, 13% manage local customers limited to one or two regions (less than 10 departments). Conversely, 33% of them have a customer base spread across most of the departments in metropolitan France (more than 85 out of 95). The size of the catchment areas for registrars in the private individual market is closely linked to the volume of domain names managed on this market. The twenty largest providers, each managing more than 2,000 names for private individuals, all have full or near-full national coverage (more than 90 departments). Registrars with smaller portfolios of names have more limited catchment areas, and most of those that manage less than 500 name domains cover less than 50 departments. The rate of statistical correlation between the sizes of the catchment areas and the volumes of names stands at 0.27, reflecting a genuine positive correlation between these two indicators. Distribution of .fr registrars based on the number of domain names they manage and the size of their catchment area (private individual market in July 2010) 100 75 Size of registrar catchment area 50 25 0 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 Number of private individual domain names managed per registrar (log scale) Figure 36 – Relationship between the size of the catchment area and the domain name portfolio of .fr registrars for private individuals - 70 -
  • 73. Corporate market The proportion of registrars that have a local catchment area of the corporate market seems to be smaller than for the private individual market: only 6% of the 108 providers managing over 500 domains on this market have a customer base located on less than 10 departments (against 13% on the private individual market). Conversely, they are slightly more likely to have a customer base spread across virtually all of metropolitan France (38% against 33% for the private individual market). The size of catchment areas also correlates with the volume of domain names managed on the corporate market, but is less marked than on that for private individuals. Registrars managing over 10,000 names all have national coverage (with the exception of one domainer which is only present in its own department). Providers is smaller size have narrower catchment areas, but with great variability compared with the private individual market. In this way, portfolios with between 500 and 5,000 domains can be managed both by registrars located on very few French departments and other players with much greater national coverage. Distribution of .fr registrars based on the number of domain names they manage and the size of their catchment areas (legal entity market in July 2010) 100 75 Size of registrar catchment area 50 25 0 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 Number of legal entity domain names managed by registrars (log scale) Figure 37 – Relationship between the size of the catchment area and the domain name portfolio of .fr registrars for legal entities - 71 -
  • 74. The market for ICANN-accredited registrars • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The rest of this chapter is devoted to ICANN-accredited registrars. It is based on the statistics published by Dot and Co21. There were 961 ICANN accredited registrars on 1 September 2010. From less than 400 in late 2004, the number rose sharply in 2005 and 2006 before expanding at a more moderate pace. After a slight decline in 2009, it returned to growth in early 2010 (+4% over the first eight months). The graph below shows the distribution of ICANN-accredited registrars by country. North America takes the lion’s share with nearly three quarters of registrars, nearly 56% of them in the United States alone. France comes ninth, with 15 accredited registrars, or 1.6% of the total number of providers. France has lost two places since 2009, South Korea and the United Kingdom now having two more accredited registrars. In one year, the U.S. fell nearly 3 points (10 registrars less), while conversely new countries have emerged (Netherlands Antilles, Costa Rica, Ghana, Indonesia, Czech Republic, Viet Nam). There are now 65 ICANN-accredited registrars in 65 countries. Distribution of ICANN-accredited registrars per country in August 2010 (according to Dot and Co) Other countries; 126 Spain; 13 France: 1.6% Japan; 13 of ICANN-accredited registrars France; 15 in 2010 Australia; 15 UK; 17 Rep. of Korea; 17 India; 18 China; 20 Germany; 24 USA; 543 Canada; 140 Figure 38 – Distribution per country of ICANN-accredited registrars - 72 -
  • 75. The distribution of generic domain names in relation to the country of registrar once more shows the United States well in the lead, with nearly 62% of the names. This figure is falling, however (-1 percentage points over the last year, against -2% last year). The proportion of generic names managed in France is roughly 1.8% of the total of such names, and is slightly increasing (+0.2% since 2009). China has a higher annual growth rate: the providers that are established in the country now control 3.6% of the world’s generic domains as against 2.8% one year earlier. Distribution of generic domain names according to the country of the registrar in April 2010 (according to Dot and Co, .com/.net/.org/.biz/.info/.name/.coop/.pro/.mobi/.travel/.cat/.jobs/.asia/.museum/.aero/.tel) Other countries; 7.1% Cayman Islands; 1.1% French registrars: France; 1.8 % 1.8% of generic domain names in 2010 India; 2.5% (against 1.6% in 2009 China; 3.6% and 1.4% in 2008) (+0.9 point) Australia; 5.8% Canada; 8.1% USA; 61.6% (-1.1 point) Germany; 8.2% Figure 39 – Distribution of generic domain names per country of registrar The Go Daddy Company is clearly in the lead, with nearly 30% of the world market, before eNom, Tucows, Network Solution and 1&1 which overtook Melbourne IT last year. Go Daddy is also undergoing spectacular, continuous growth (+2.5 points over one year, 11.5 points over three years). Since 2009, its direct challengers have all lost or just maintained their market share, with the notable exception of Xin Net, which benefits from the dynamism of the Chinese economy and has gained 0.4 points. - 73 -
  • 76. There is a small minority (2%) of ICANN-accredited registrars managing portfolios with more than a million names, the leader having up to 36 million. Conversely, 45% of the providers have less than 1,000 names each. Ranking of registrars in terms of the number of generic domain names that they managed in April 2010 (according to Dot and Co, .com/.net/.org/.biz/.info/.name/.coop/.pro/.mobi/.travel/.cat/.jobs/.asia/.museum/.aero/.tel) 1,000,000 domain names or more; 18; 2% In April 2010: From 100,000 to 999,999 883 registrars managed domain names; 120,821,830 generic 75; 8% domain names From 10,000 to 99,999 domain names; 133; From 1 to 999 15% domain name(s); 394; 45% From 1,000 to 9,999 domain names; 263; 30% Figure 40 – Ranking of registrars in relation to the total number of generic domain names The concentration indices indicate that the world market leader in generic TLDs (Go Daddy) is slightly more powerful than the market leader in the .fr domain (with a CR1 of 30%, compared with 27%). The other indices, however, are lower on the global market, which appears to be a slightly less concentrated than the .fr market except for the top player (CR4 of 50% against 58%, CR10 of 67% against 74% and HHI of 0.110 against 0.118). The global market for generic TLDs is still in the process of concentration and its status has changed from “non-concentrated” to “moderately concentrated” since last year. As in the case of the market in the .fr domain, the CR1 for the market in generic domains has risen faster in the last year than the CR4 or CR10, reflecting the fact that the market leader is gaining at the expense of its direct competitors. The growth of the top registrar is slightly more marked for .fr domain than for the generic domains (+3 percentage points, against +2.5). With an HHI of 0.110 in 2010, the international market for generic names remains less concentrated than the .fr market (HHI of 0.118). This may be due to the formation of local markets based on the cultures, languages and legal conditions specific to each country, making it more difficult for the major players to obtain complete coverage of the global market compared with the .fr market, which is much more homogeneous in cultural, linguistic and legal terms. - 74 -
  • 77. World market for generic Top Level Domains (according to Dot and Co) Parameter 2010 2009 Change Number of registrars 883 890 -1% Number of domains 120,821,830 111,223,439 9% Number of domain names per registrar 136,831 124,970 9% Concentration index 2010 2009 Change CR1 29.8% 27.3% 2.5 CR4 49.7% 48.2% 1.6 CR10 66.9% 67.1% -0.1 HHI 0.110 0.097 0.012 The world market for generic extensions in 2010 switched from “non concentrated” to “moderately concentrated” (HHI ≥ 0.1). Table 6 – Concentration indices for the world market in generic domain names Of the 14 French ICANN-accredited registrars in April 2010, four manage more than 100,000 generic names and four others manage 10,000 to 100,000 names. OVH has passed the one million milestone of generic names managed in 2010. It should be noted, however, that these numbers are difficult to interpret because of sub-contracting activities: registrars can hold domain names as sub-contractors for another provider, in which case the names are taken into account in the ICANN statistics for the initial service provider and not for the reseller. French ICANN-accredited registrars in April 2010 (according to Dot and Co) Registrar Number of generic domain names managed OVH 1,030,582 Gandi 695,938 Online 179,864 NordNet 130,440 INDOM 73,258 Netissime 35,304 France Télécom 32,528 Hosteur 17,952 Digitrad 3,357 Acropolis Telecom 3,332 Domaine.fr 1,649 Nameshield 1,183 Mailclub 1,124 Mister Name 48 Table 7 – French ICANN-accredited registrars - 75 -
  • 78. Registrars that are both ICANN-accredited and .fr providers • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Some registrars are active both in the market for the .fr country domain and as ICANN-accredited registrars in the generic domain market. The crossover affects only a small number of registrars: 55 in all, equivalent to 7% of all ICANN-accredited providers and 6% of AFNIC providers. These registrars, however, have substantial portfolios of names, such that the volume percentages are higher: 78% of the .fr domain names and 22% of gTLDs are managed by providers simultaneously on both markets. The number of registrars present both on the .fr market and on the generic domains market as an ICANN- accredited provider has also been on the rise since 2009, with 4 more registrars, or 8% over one year. These are AFNIC registrars that have become ICANN accredited, ICANN-accredited registrars entering the .fr market, and newly established registrars. The ICANN accreditation status of registrars accredited for .fr strongly correlates with the number of .fr domains they manage: of the top 30 providers (with over 5,000 names), almost three quarters are ICANN accredited. For the 70 following registrars, the ratio falls to 16%, and stands at 7% for all the .fr providers. It appears, therefore, that there is a breakeven point beyond which the costs incurred by ICANN accreditation are justified by the financial and marketing gains involved after achieving that status. - 76 -
  • 79. Chapter 14 Analysis of the secondary market ● Data source: DN Journal, Sedo (annual report for 2009, quarterly report for Q2-2009, and website). The purpose of this chapter is to review the secondary market in domain names, focusing in particular on the .fr domain (numbers traded and prices charged). The secondary domain name market worldwide (DN Journal) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The DN Journal website publishes a list of major transactions on the secondary market for all of the existing marketplaces22. In the first half of 2010, the name “slots.com” took the lead with an exchange price of $ 5.5 million. Four more names have reached the million-dollar mark over that period (“dating.com”, “photo.com”, “flying.com” and “poker.org”). Among the Top Level Domains in the top 100 published by DN Journal the .com is still way ahead with 77 names. Overall, national TLDs represent 18 sales in the top 100, two of them with .fr (“credit.fr” – which also included the associated web site – and “lundi.fr”). The extreme prices appear to have resumed their growth after a break last year: the record increased 8% and the average for the top 100 names has risen 10% in one year. The rankings for the most expensive country-code Top-level Domains traded between January and August 2010 saw the French domain take the lead with the name “credit.fr” which traded for approximately $ 852,000, far ahead of the following transactions. As last year, the German and British ccTLDs feature most prominently in the top 100, where some twenty ccTLDs are to be found in all. The “marketed” ccTLD .tv (which represents Tuvalu but is sold as “television”) underwent major growth this year, with 14 sales in the top 100 against a single over the same period in 2009. Four names were exchanged under .fr in these rankings against 11 last year. - 77 -
  • 80. The extreme trading prices for national domains also rose this year after a sharp decline in 2009: the record tripled while the average for the top 100 increased by over 60% year on year. The most expensive national domain names sold between 1 January and 15 August 2010 (public transactions, according to DN Journal) poker.ca; 400,000 $ credit.fr; 851,875 $ o.co; 350,000 $ software.de; 303,182 $ imoveis.com.br; 300,000 $ slots.ca; 206,906 $ free-sms.de; 162,150 $ website.de; 141,610 $ Top Level Domains in the Top 100 Domain nname sold designer.co.uk; 122,080 $ business.tv; 100,999 $ .de (31 domain names) pakistan.de; 87,049 $ .uk (15 domain names) e.co; 81,000 $ .tv (14 domain names) .ca (5 domain names) hi.ru; 80,600 $ .fr , .me , .nl (4 domain names) tvs.co.uk; 75,990 $ .at , .co , .za (3 domain names) lundi.fr; 70,000 $ .it , .se (2 domain names) fly.co.za; 65,000 $ .au , .br , .ch , .cn , .es , .eu , .in , .io , .pl , .ru gold.co.uk; 63,916 $ (1 domain name) pw.ca; 60,000 $ stockcharts.co.uk; 48,000 $ laarzen.nl; 46,125 $ 0$ 100,000 $ 200,000 $ 300,000 $ 400,000 $ 500,000 $ 600,000 $ 700,000 $ 800,000 $ 900,000 $ Sale price (in US dollars) Figure 41 – The most expensive country-code domain names sold on the secondary market Four .fr domain names were included in the top 100 country-code TLDs at the beginning of 2010. Aside from the record sale of “credit.fr” and the associated website, for some € 600,000, the prices of the other three transactions range between € 17,500 and € 50,000 (“lundi.fr”, “grattage.fr” and “everest.fr”). Once again, the sectors of finance and online games are found in these rankings. - 78 -
  • 81. The secondary domain name market worldwide (Sedo) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following are various statistics published by the Sedo company in its annual analysis of the secondary market for domain names in 200923 and in its analysis of the second quarter of 201024. These figures refer only to domain names traded on the secondary market through the Sedo platform, in the absence of comprehensive statistics for the entire market. Sedo, however, is a major player on the global secondary market for domain names. The secondary market for domain names continued to grow in 2009 on the Sedo platform, although more moderately: the number of names traded rose 5% against 35% in 2008. Average prices were down slightly over one year, all TLDs combined (-2%), so that the financial volume of trading rose only 3% over the year. The .com domain accounts for 44% of the domain names sold on Sedo, followed by .de (Germany) with 18% of the market share. There was less trading on the other Top Level Domains. The French domain is far behind, with some 400 transactions in 2009 (1% of names traded), but its growth is constant (+30% in one year). In terms of the distribution in value of the sales made through Sedo,.com continued to represent the vast majority of sales in 2009, with over 30 million transactions (almost 60% of the platform’s total sales turnover). It is followed in the rankings by.de and .net. The French ccTLD gained two places, overtaking .eu and .info in 2009, posting a sharp rise in transaction volumes to stand at 1.1 million euro, (+35% in one year, when the average growth for all the extensions combined was 3%). Volume of transactions on the Sedo platform per Top Level Domain in 2009 (according to Sedo) .com ; 32,094,851 € .de ; 6,867,671 € .net ; 2,642,498 € .uk ; 1,710,569 € .org ; 1,688,946 € In 2009: Top Level Domain .fr ; 1,118,206 € 54.7 million euros of transactions on Sedo .eu ; 1,005,603 € (+ 3% over one year) .info ; 704,810 € On the .fr TLD: + 35% over one year .es ; 691,595 € .biz ; 367,725 € .at ; 282,822 € 0€ 5,000,000 € 10,000,000 € 15,000,000 € 20,000,000 € 25,000,000 € 30,000,000 € 35,000,000 € Volume of transactions (in euros) Figure 42 – Volumes of transactions per Top Level Domain on Sedo - 79 -
  • 82. In terms of average prices, the French ccTLD remained the most expensive in 2009 as in 2008, with an average price close to € 3,000. That average price continued to increase slightly over the year (+4%) even though the average price all TLDs combined fell by 2%. The average price for the .biz gTLD almost doubled between 2008 and 2009. Average price of domain names sold on the Sedo platform per Top Level Domain in 2009 (according to Sedo) .fr ; 2,958 € .uk ; 2,216 € .com ; 1,849 € .at ; 1,541 € Top Level Domain .es ; 1,149 € In 2009: .net ; 1,058 € Average sale price .biz ; 1,048 € on Sedo of € 1,416 .org ; 1,031 € (- 2% over one year) .de ; 965 € On the .fr TLD: + 4% over one year .eu ; 722 € .info ; 482 € 0€ 500 € 1,000 € 1,500 € 2,000 € 2,500 € 3,000 € 3,500 € Average price (in euros) Figure 43 – Average price of domain names sold on Sedo, per Top Level Domain - 80 -
  • 83. Although mean price figures can be distorted by a few transactions at record prices, mean prices are a more reliable indicator of behaviour in ordinary sales. During Q2 2010, the mean price at which .fr domain names changed hands was around $ 900, higher than the medians for other domains. The mean price for .fr remained stable over one year, however, while those for the other TLDs experienced massive growth (from 24% for .com to 84% for .info). Mean price of domain names sold on the Sedo platform during the second quarter of 2010 per Top Level Domain (according to Sedo) .fr ; 904 $ .es ; 616 $ .net ; 581 $ .org ; 530 $ Top Level Domain .com ; 510 $ .uk ; 502 $ .de ; 437 $ .info ; 402 $ .biz ; 380 $ 0$ 100 $ 200 $ 300 $ 400 $ 500 $ 600 $ 700 $ 800 $ 900 $ 1,000 $ Mean price (in US dollars) Figure 44 – Mean prices of domain names sold on Sedo, per Top Level Domain These figures underline the vitality of the secondary market which has taken off fast since 2008, especially for the .fr domain. This is perhaps due to the French TLD catching up somewhat with other TLDs, a higher proportion of the interesting names having changed hands ever since, a phenomenon detected earlier for domains such as .com or .de. Another explanation, which does not exclude the first, could be that French users have become more mature in their perception of the intrinsic value of .fr domain names, and are therefore willing to pay more to acquire them. - 81 -
  • 84. Secondary market for .fr domain names (Sedo) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following statistics only cover public trading in .fr domain names on the Sedo platform, not the confidential transactions. The annual number of transactions of .fr domain names conducted on Sedo has grown rapidly since 2007. After virtually tripling between 2007 and 2008, it increased by 35% in 2009 to 348 transactions per year and is liable to continue to increase in 2010. Change in the monthly number of transactions involving .fr domain names performed on the Sedo platform since 2004 (according to Sedo, excluding confidential transactions) 70 2010 (as at 31/05) 177 transactions 60 Number of transactions per month 50 2008 2009 258 transactions 348 transactions 40 30 2007 89 transactions 20 2004 2005 2006 11 26 transactions 31 transactions 10 0 10 0 4 09 9 08 06 6 09 9 08 8 8 5 7 6 04 07 05 06 7 07 05 5 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 ay ay ay ay st st ay st ay st st st br ov ov ov ov br ov br br br br ov gu gu gu gu gu gu M M M M Fe M M Fe Fe Fe Fe N Fe N N N N N Au Au Au Au Au Au Months Figure 45 – Monthly figures for transactions in .fr domain names on Sedo The growth of the secondary market on the French country-code Top Level Domain can also be seen in terms of trading volume. The volume realised from January to May 2010 has already exceeded that for the full year of 2009, due to the exceptional sale in January on Sedo (“credit.fr”). After a sharp rise in 2008, the average rates charged on the .fr secondary market calmed down in 2009, returning approximately to € 2,300 per domain (-19% year over year). For the first half of 2010, the average price of .fr domain names stands at € 5,000 due to the record sale in January. This figure is expected to decline throughout the year 2010 but still represents a significant rise year over year. - 82 -
  • 85. The mean price of sales on Sedo between January and June 2010 was € 650 for the .fr domain, representing a slight decline over the last two years. While 7% of the names fetched over € 5,000, the great majority changed hands at much more reasonable levels: a quarter traded under €500, and nearly 60% at less than € 1,000. Transaction prices for .fr domain names performed on the Sedo platform between January and May 2010, in euros (according to Sedo, excluding confidential transactions) € 5,000 or more; 12 transactions; 7% From January to May 2010: Less than € 500; 44 transactions; 177 transactions 25% for an average price of € 4,950 linked to a single sale (against € 2,250 in 2009) From € 1,000 and a mean price of to € 4,999; 61 transactions; € 650 34% (against € 800 in 2009 and € 1,000 in 2008) From € 500 to € 999; 60 transactions; 34% Figure 46 – Prices of .fr domain names sold on Sedo The most expensive transactions made on the Sedo platform in 2010 for .fr, the terms related to finance, online games or recreation stand out the most. The breakdown by category of .fr domain names for sale on the Sedo marketplace in August 2010 shows that names for the IT, Business-Economy, Leisure and Shopping sectors took the lead. Nearly 15,000 names were on sale in the IT category, compared with only 3,500 ranked as Adult. - 83 -
  • 86. Part Five: Technologies Chapter 15 DNS Servers ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database 1 July 2010 (number of domains per server and number of servers per domain), operating statistics for authoritative DNS servers managed by AFNIC (monitoring data and traffic analysis via the DNSwitness software platform). The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on the DNS servers that appear in the registrations of .fr domain names (number of servers per domain name, number of domain names per server, and characteristics of servers), as well as data (number and type) on the requests received by the authoritative DNS servers managed by AFNIC. In July 2010, the AFNIC database contained 42,884 separate DNS servers, 14% more than a year earlier. This increase is slightly lower than the year’s growth in the number of .fr domain names (+20%). Specifically, the AFNIC database contained more than 11,000 new servers, while 6,000 had been withdrawn in relation to the figures for July 2009. Number of DNS servers per .fr domain name ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The distribution of the number of DNS servers for .fr domain names shows that a very great majority of the names (nearly 83%) only specify two DNS servers – the minimum required – in their configuration. Some names specify three servers (15%), but configurations offering greater redundancy are much rarer. The maximum number of servers is 8, and the mean is 2.2 servers per name. These figures have changed little since 2009. There was, however, a slight decrease in the percentage of domain names pointing to two DNS servers for the benefit of those who indicate three in their configuration, which was already the trend observed a year earlier. Number of .fr domain names per DNS server ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Nearly half of the DNS servers found in the AFNIC database only support a single .fr domain (representing some 21,000 servers) and approximately 13% manage two. At the other end of the scale, 15% of the DNS servers handle more than ten names: in particular these include registrars’ servers which their customers’ domain names point to by default. In 2010, five servers even managed portfolios with more than 100,000 .fr domain names In one year, the proportion of servers in charge of a single domain grew (+0.8 point), while that of the most important servers declined (-0.6 points). Among the new DNS servers which appeared in 2010, 63% only host a single domain name, while this figure stands at 49% for all the DNS servers in the domain. This means a significant portion of the new DNS servers may correspond to servers run by small organisations or individuals. - 84 -
  • 87. Requests received by authoritative DNS servers managed by AFNIC ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Details of the .fr domain are made available through a set of authoritative DNS servers for the domain, some of them run by AFNIC itself, and others by separate bodies. AFNIC uses monitoring tools to ensure that the authoritative servers for which it is responsible are functioning properly. The figure below shows changes in the average number of DNS requests received per second by the authoritative servers managed by AFNIC. Over and above seasonal variations (a decrease during the summer and winter holiday seasons), the general trend shows steady growth in the traffic received by all the servers: the annual average rose from 2,700 requests per second in 2008 to 3,800 in the first half of 2010, representing an increase in the volume of requests received by AFNIC servers in 18 months of almost 40%. It should be noted that requests received by the authoritative DNS servers for the .fr domain only account for some of the occasions on which Internet users access .fr domain names. This is because of the use of “cache” functions in recursive DNS servers, meaning that sometimes when a .fr domain is accessed this does not give rise to a specific request to an authoritative server. In addition, the figures given here do not take into account requests received by authoritative .fr domain servers not directly managed by AFNIC. Number of requests received per second since April 2008 by the subset of authoritative DNS servers in the .fr zone managed by AFNIC 6,000 Average for April - December 2008: Average for 2009: Average for early 2010: 2,700 requests per second 3,100 requests per second 3,800 requests per second Number of requests received per second by these servers 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 Trend curve 1,000 0 10 08 09 09 10 9 0 08 10 09 10 08 09 10 08 09 8 9 10 08 09 8 8 8 9 8 9 .0 .1 09 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 ne ne ne ch ch st ay st n. ay ay ly ly ly r. r. r. br br ct ct pt ov ec pt ov ec n. Ap Ju gu gu Ap Ap Ju Ju Ju ar ar Ja Ju Ju M M M Fe Fe O O Se Se Ja N D N D M M Au Au Months Figure 47 – Number of requests received by AFNIC-run authoritative DNS servers for the .fr domain - 85 -
  • 88. AFNIC has also developed software to detect and analyse DNS traffic, which forms an integral part of the DNSwitness software platform25, and is available under a GPL licence. This software component, known as DNSmezzo, was used for two 24-hour periods in September 2010 to observe the traffic received by one of the authoritative DNS servers for the .fr TLD managed by AFNIC. The analysis of the traffic shows that most of the requests were for IPv4 addresses (type “A”), followed by mail servers (type “MX”). IPv6 addresses (“AAAA”) constitute about 9% of the requests, while the authoritative DNS servers (“NS”) represent approximately 1%. Type of requests received in the .fr zone by an authoritative DNS server managed by AFNIC in September 2010 (two observation periods of 24 h) Other types Authoritative server (NS) 2.6% 0.9% IPv6 address (AAAA) 8.9% IPv4 address (A) E-mail server (MX) 55.1% 32.5% Figure 48 – Type of requests received by an AFNIC-run authoritative DNS server for the .fr domain Furthermore, analysis of this traffic shows that 1.2% of the requests received by the authoritative server managed by AFNIC were conveyed via the IPv6 protocol, against only 0.7% last year. While still low, the percentage of traffic received in IPv6 should continue to grow over time with the gradual introduction of the IPv6 protocol in recursive DNS servers. - 86 -
  • 89. Chapter 16 Using IPv6 addresses ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database in September 2010 and a search for IPv6 addresses in the DNS using the DNSwitness software platform. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on the use of the IPv6 protocol in the .fr domain, by identifying the number of domain names for which at least one server has an IPv6 address for various services (DNS, e-mail, Web). Procedure used in searching for IPv6 addresses • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • DNSdelve software, the active measurement component of the DNSwitness software platform, automatically collects information from different DNS zones. The software can be used to identify names within a domain compatible with IPv6 for various services. For each “internet.fr” domain name present in the AFNIC database, DNSdelve was used to test for the presence of IPv6 addresses for the following three types of server: • DNS servers specified by registrations of the “NS” type associated with the “internet.fr” domain name, • E-mail servers specified by registrations of the “MX” type associated with the “internet.fr” domain name, • Web servers which might be associated with the “internet.fr” domain name, under the naming conventions “internet.fr”, “www.internet.fr” and “www.ipv6.internet.fr”. IPv6-compatible .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The figure below shows the percentage of .fr domain names whose DNS, e-mail and web servers indicate at least one IPv6 address in the DNS. The results show that in 2010 more than 6% of .fr domain names are IPv6-compatible for DNS and nearly 1% for the Web, while the proportion for mail servers is much lower (0.3%). These figures have increased significantly over the last year for e-mail and DNS services, but have sharply declined in percentage terms (but not in absolute numbers) for web servers. This decline indicates that the number of domain names for which the web server involved indicates an IPv6 address is growing less rapidly than the total number of domains using the French TLD. This could be partially explained by the registration over the past year of new .fr domain names associated with registrar parking pages pending the effective on-lining of the dedicated websites, and the fact that these parking pages are not necessarily accessible in IPv6. This could also be partially explained by the unavailability of or lack of awareness about IPv6 among web hosts of newly registered domain names. - 87 -
  • 90. These percentages remain very low, however, and are of concern given the near-depletion of IPv4 addresses, which some experts forecast for the beginning of 2012. Percentage of IPv6-compatible .fr domain names in September 2010 per service 7% + 1.2 over one year 6% 5% Percentage of domain names 4% 6.7% 6.4% 3% 2% 1% - 1.4 over one year + 0.15 over one year + 0.04 over one year 0.9% 0.30% 0.08% 0% DNS Web E-mail At least 1 service All services Services associated with domain names Figure 49 – Percentage of IPv6-compatible .fr domain names When an IPv6 address is published in the DNS for a given domain name, the DNSdelve software can also be used to test whether the corresponding server is actually accessible in IPv6. The analysis conducted in September 2010 showed that 98% of the web servers advertised as being IPv6 compatible were effectively accessible with this protocol, as were 71% of the e-mail servers advertised as being IPv6 compatible. The change over time of IPv6 compatibility shows that it increased significantly for DNS servers in 2009 to reach 7.5% of the .fr domains before slightly eroding in 2010. For web servers, the trend has been towards decreasing percentages since the spring of 2009, while the rate of IPv6 compatibility for e-mail servers is slowly improving. - 88 -
  • 91. International comparisons • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • In April 2010, the OECD published a report entitled “Measuring Deployment of IPv6”26, to which AFNIC contributed well as many other market players around the world (TLD registries, Internet access providers, content providers, DNS operators, etc.). The data provided by AFNIC within this framework were collected through its DNSwitness software platform. Few registries provide figures about the deployment of IPv6 in their Top Level Domain. For several years, the Japanese registry JPNIC has provided statistics on IPv6-compatible DNS, e-mail and web servers under the .jp TLD27. In September 2010, 70,000 domain names using that domain indicated an IPv6 address for their DNS servers, as well as 40,000 for their e-mail and web servers. The .jp domain containing about 1.2 million name domains, the percentages of IPv6-compatible names for the Japanese ccTLD stands at 5.8% for DNS servers, and at 3.3% for e-mail and web servers. The .fr TLD is a little ahead of .jp in terms of DNS servers (6.4% against 5.8%) but seriously lags behind in terms of web servers (0.9 against 3.3) and especially e-mail servers (0.3 against 3.3). On the other hand, .fr is far ahead of South Korea on this criterion: only 0.01% of the .kr domain names were IPv6 compatible in February 2010 according to the KISA / KRNIC registry (or 141 out of approximately 1.1 million). Another indicator to consider is the percentage of requests received by the authoritative DNS servers for a domain via the IPv6 protocol. This statistic provides information mainly on the deployment of IPv6 in the recursive name servers of Internet service providers and companies, but gives no indication of its deployment on the computers of Internet users. At year-end 2009, 0.9% of the requests received by the authoritative “a.nic.fr” server for the French domain were carried by the IPv6 protocol, a figure which had increased to 1.2% by September 2010. This was only the case for 0.42% of the requests received on average in 2009 by one of the authoritative servers for the Korean domain .kr. As for the Japanese ccTLd, in September 2010, the ratio ranged between 0.6 and 0.8% of the .jp domain names. - 89 -
  • 92. Part Six: Uses Chapter 17 Use of .fr domain names on the Web ● Data source: output from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010 and exhaustive analysis of the HTTP headers returned by Web servers using automated scripts; random sampling of the AFNIC database, and manual browsing of the websites associated with the domain names in the sample. The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on the uses of .fr domain names on the Web: response from the server (no response, success or redirected site), and type of site (professional site, personal site, parked site, etc.). Responses from web servers associated with .fr domain names ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• An automatic analysis of HTTP headers returned by web servers was performed on all the .fr domain names present in the AFNIC database in July 2010. For each “internet.fr” domain name, a script sends an HTTP request of the “HEAD” type to the web server address “www.internet.fr” then waits for the response. The HTTP response received is then analysed in order to obtain various parameters: • The HTTP return code, • Any redirection (“Location:” header), • The server software used (“Server:” header). The figure below shows the kinds of HTTP return code received. For the entire .fr domain, the requests were successfully returned in 6 cases out of 10; they resulted in a redirect in nearly a quarter of the domain names, and 9% of them did not produce any response within the set time limit. Compared with the study conducted last year, redirects significantly increased with 6 points more over one year to the detriment of non-responses (-6 points). This development seems primarily due to a technical change in the technical configuration of a major registrar of .fr domain names, for which a large part of the domain names in 2009 which resulted in a lack of response this year to lead to a redirect to a default page of the webmail type. In addition, the success rate slightly increased (+1 point). - 90 -
  • 93. In all, the proportion of domain names leading to an effective site (direct or by redirect) now stands at 85% of the French domain, up 8 points since 2009. This proportion reflects the high utilization of the ccTLD, which seems to be much less subject to purely defensive registration strategies than the others. Category of HTTP return code returned by the web servers associated with .fr domain names active in July 2010 Server error; 2% 85% of domain names lead Client error; 4% to an effective website (against 77% in 2009) No response from server; 9% (- 6 points over one year) Redirect: 23% (+ 6 points over one year) Success; 62% Figure 50 – Categories of response codes returned by web servers associated with .fr domain names The figure below indicates which domains were used by redirecting websites. The domains most commonly redirected to were .com (in 32% of the cases), .net (27%), and .fr (20%). In addition, the redirect is located on the same server in 14% of the cases (URL with the same hostname and relative URL), the other TLDs forming a large minority. In all, 34% of the redirects remain within the .fr domain. - 91 -
  • 94. Over one year, .net has increased dramatically in the rankings (from 7% to 27%). This is primarily due to a change in configuration of one of the main registrars as mentioned above: the default holding page of this provider, which is located under .net, now appears in redirects for 100,000 .fr domain names, compared with 10,000 last year alone. This technical change has the effect of mechanically drowning out the percentages of the other TLDs, except for redirects to the same domain name which grew strongly over one year (from 5% to 9%). Top Level Domain used by HTTP redirects returned by webservers associated with .fr domain names active in July 2010 Other redirects; 4% 34% of redirects .org ; 3% remain under .fr Relative URL; 5% URL using the same .com ; 32% domain name; 9% .fr ; 20% .net ; 27% Figure 51 – Top Level Domains used for redirects associated with .fr domain names Apache freeware is still in the lead for software most frequently used by web servers associated with .fr domain names, with more than 80% of the sites, followed by Microsoft IIS server with 7%. Over a year, Apache has further increased its lead by 3 points on the French domain, to the detriment of IIS. Types of website associated with .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • A random sample of 1,000 .fr domain names was extracted from the AFNIC database on 1 July 2010. These 1,000 domain names were then analysed by staff who visited their associated websites during August 2010 (addresses of the type “www.internet.fr”). - 92 -
  • 95. The website types distinguished in this study were as follows: • No response from server: the web server associated with the domain name did not respond, or sent an HTTP error message, • Site suspended: a message on the site indicates that it is temporarily unavailable, • Site empty: the web page returned is either empty or matches the default page of a content management platform, • Holding page: the site has been parked with a registrar, hosting company or web agency, • Sponsored links: the site uses commercial links of the “Pay Per Click” kind, such as those of Sedo, NameDrive (NDParking), Google (AdSense) or Yahoo! Search Marketing, • Business site: the site appears to be business-related (firms, associations, public bodies, or indeed self-employed individuals), • Personal site: the site is personal in character (personal blog, family website, community website, photo-sharing website, etc.), • Type unknown: it was not possible to determine the website’s place in this classification (password protected access to the website’s content, for example). On ranking the random sample of 1,000 .fr domain names by type of website, we found that business websites account for almost half (48%), with personal sites far behind (less than 3%) Holding pages represent 23% of the domain names studied and nearly 5% point to sponsored link pages. Finally, 15% of names generated no response from the web server associated, and 4% of the sites were empty. The confidence interval at 95% was approximately plus or minus 3 points of the percentage for professional sites, lower values being obtained for the other ratios. Since the study last year, domain names redirecting to a holding page rose sharply (from 17% to 23%). This trend is probably related, first to the current dynamics of creating new domain names under .fr, new names temporarily redirecting to holding pages until their owner has developed specific content, and partly to a change in the technical configuration of a major registrar already mentioned above, which now redirects more systematically to a holding page by default. Non-responses significantly decreased (-5 points), as a direct consequence of this technical change. Finally, professional websites continue to increase their lead (+2 points over one year). The very low percentage of personal sites (less than 3%) may seem surprising, a priori, while the proportion of private owners continues to grow and is approaching 40% of the .fr domain. There are several possible explanations. Firstly, a number of sites of the sample studied were registered by individuals but for business purposes (professional artists, independent consultants, etc.): it is possible that the interest of private individuals for .fr domain names is reflected more in sites related to their professions than by web sites for purely personal or family purposes. On the other hand, the recent success of social networks such as Facebook may have deterred some individuals holding .fr domain names to create their own website in favour of a profile on a social network, the individuals then using their domain name in order to build lists of personalised e-mail addresses. - 93 -
  • 96. Types of websites related to .fr domain names active in August 2010 (Analysis of a random sample of 1,000 domain names) Site closed; 0.8% Unknown type of website; 1.2% In August 2010: Personal site; 2.7% Empty site; 4.0% 51% of the sites have specific content (+ 2% over one year) Page of sponsored links; 4.8 % 28% of the sites are parked (+ 5% over one year) No response from server; 15.1 % Professional site; 48.1% Holding page; 23.3% Figure 52 – Types of website associated with .fr domain names Identifying the characteristics of websites associated with the domain names of the sample shows that 4% of the names in the sample were on sale at the time of the study, whereas this figure was only 2% last year. This development is to be compared with the dynamics observed in recent years on the secondary market for .fr domain names. In addition, 4% of the websites with specific content were in the form of a blog and only 1.5% of business sites were of a pornographic nature, these percentages have changed little over one year. Characteristics of websites related to .fr domain names active in August 2010 (analysis of a random sample of 1,000 domain names) Characteristic Percentage Domain name for sale 14% of parked sites (4% of all domain names) Site under construction 3.5% of professional and personal sites Blog type site 4% of professional and personal sites XXX Adult website 1.5% of professional sites (0.7 % of all domain names) Table 8 – Characteristics of websites associated with .fr domain names - 94 -
  • 97. Chapter 18 Perception of .fr domain names ● Data source: AFNIC/20 Minutes opinion surveys (2007) and AFNIC / Metro Panel opinion surveys (2008, 2009, 2010). The purpose of this chapter is to provide a summary of the main results from a number of opinion surveys commissioned by AFNIC since 2006 concerning the perception and uses of domain names in France: The 2010 survey was conducted from 3 June to 15 June 2010 by Metro Panel, based on an online survey with 555 respondents28. Due to the surveys’ circumstances, the panels used in these studies consisted of online readers of the newspapers “Metro” and “20 Minutes”: they are not necessarily representative of the whole French population. They do however provide a reliable picture of the online population – the one likely to be in contact with domain names, either as web users or as holders of names. Perception of the .fr domain • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The opinion survey conducted in 2010 showed a marked preference among French people for .fr domain names. The .fr ccTLD mainly evokes attachment to the French territory for 78% of the respondents, while only 6% think that it is a TLD like any other. An overwhelming majority also stated they spontaneous searched for the website of a French company under .fr (76% of panel members). On the other hand, more than one in two respondents considers that the prospects for development of .fr in the medium to long term are quite good, against 33% who are neutral. Finally, if they had to choose a single domain, 62% of respondents would opt for the national ccTLD. - 95 -
  • 98. Perception of the .fr Top Level Domain in 2010 (AFNIC / Metro Panel opinion survey) For me, .fr mainly evokes… A connection 78% with France 15% A good means of contacting French people 6% A Top Level Domain like any other I would spontaneously look for the site of a French company under the Top Level Domain... Answers given by respondents in the survey 76% .fr 16% .com 8% A Top Level Domain other than .fr and .com If I had to choose a single Top Level Domain, I would opt for… 62% .fr 23% .com 7% .net 6% .eu 2% Another Top Level Domain In my opinion, the outlooks for the development of .fr in the medium/long term are… 51% Quite good, it's the benchmark for contacting French people .com 33% Relatively neutral, there is a lot of competition from the other Top Level Domains 2% Rather poor, it doesn't mean much 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Percentage of replies Figure 53 – Perception of the .fr domain - 96 -
  • 99. Values associated with the .fr domain ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The .fr domain is primarily associated in these respondents’ minds with being a French speaker (67%), and with values connected with the idea of a national community (sense of belonging 30%, closeness 20%). This top trio of values associated with the national extension has remained unchanged for years, with percentages of responses that have remained fairly stable over time. Other values are much less often cited by the panel. Values associated with the .fr Top Level Domain in 2010 (AFNIC / Metro Panel opinion survey) French language; 67% Belonging; 30% Values cited by survey respondents Proximity; 20% Usability; 8% Availability; 8% Originality; 6% Equality; 3% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Percentage of replies Figure 54 – Values associated with the .fr domain - 97 -
  • 100. Expectations associated with acquiring .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Respondents are mostly aware of the possibility of registering .fr domain names for private individuals (71% in 2010 against 63% in 2007), the information being transmitted mainly via the Internet today rather than the media or one’s acquaintances. However, only one out of two respondents was able to cite the names of providers, and the confusion between ISPs and registrars is still evident. The tariff is the main criterion at play in the decision to acquire an .fr domain name, followed closely by the existence of a particular need (such as creating a blog or an e-commerce website) and the opportunity of addressing a French audience. This is also the rate that is cited by 56% of the panel as the first criterion in choosing a registrar, far ahead the clarity of their offers or the simplicity of the registration interfaces. In addition, seven out of ten people believe that a domain name should cost less than € 20. Finally, half the panel expects advice or support from their provider. Expectations associated with the acquisition of a .fr domain name in 2010 (AFNIC / Metro Panel opinion survey) Are aware of the possibility of registering a .fr for individuals 71% 50% are capable of citing one or more service My motivations for registering an .fr domain name would be… 32% The price 28% A specific need (e-commerce, blog, etc.) Answers given by respondents in the survey 26% The need to address a French public 23% The intuitive nature of the domain 20% Internet publication of content in French My selection criteria for a service provider are… 56% The price 33% The clarity of the offer 30% The simplicity of the registration interface 29% My trust in the service provider 20% The related services 18% The reputation of the service provider A reasonable price for a .fr is… 70% 20 euros or less 20% 20 to 40 euros 10% Over 40 euros 50% Expect advice or support 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Percentage of replies Figure 55 – Expectations associated with acquiring .fr domain names - 98 -
  • 101. Acquisition of .fr domain names ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Some respondents had already registered personal domain names (15%), usually as part of a package with the provider’s other services (74%). The rate of satisfaction with the registration process is unequivocal (99%). As for the reasons that might induce respondents to give up their domain name or to change providers for its management, once again the tariff leads, with 60% of responses. The quality of the services provided also seems a significant factor in assessment, being cited by nearly half of the panel. In order to improve the legibility of registrars’ offers, in late 2009 AFNIC began discussing drafting a report on the service quality of providers, designed to allow holders or prospective holders, based on quantifiable and objective criteria, to have a clear and independent vision of the performance and market positioning of registrars for the .fr ccTLD. Process of acquiring an .fr domain name in 2010 (AFNIC / Metro Panel opinion survey) 15% Have already registered an .fr domain name as a private individual Have registered the domain 70% name as part of a service package 99% Were satisfied by The factors that could cause me to retain or abandon my .fr are… the registration process Answers given by respondents in the survey 60% The price 34% The relation with the service provider 26% Its use 23% The visibility it provides 16% The notion of identity 11% The choice of the offer The reasons that could make me change providers are… 60% The price 46% The service quality 20% Competitive offers that correspond better to my expectations 17% The offer 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Percentage of replies Figure 56 – Acquisition of .fr domain names - 99 -
  • 102. Use of .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • More than half of the respondents holding an .fr domain name on their own behalf use it to create customised e-mail addresses, more than to online web sites or personal pages. The use of name domains as a carrier of e-mail has also sharply risen for two years (17% in 2008, 36% in 2009 and 56% this year). One reason could be the success of social networking platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, which, by facilitating the on-lining of information without requiring a personal domain name, leaves the field open for other uses. Among the supplementary services that respondents expect in priority, in addition to a domain name, those related to privacy and security seem to be acclaimed in particular. For example, the protection of personal data (anonymous Whois service, included by default for private individuals under .fr) is cited by more than one in two, and services of the anti-virus or anti-spam type by 36% them. The implementation of customised e-mail this year arrives in third place in the responses. - 100 -
  • 103. Chapter 19 Disputes over domain names in France ● Data source: AFNIC, WIPO The purpose of this chapter is to provide statistics on disputes concerning domain names in France: disputes concerning the .fr country-code Top Level Domain, and disputes concerning other TLDs when one of the two parties is located in France. Disputes over .fr domain names • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • Disputes concerning .fr domain names may be handled by means of various procedures, allowing for a graduated response: • The opportunity for a third party to contact the administrative contact of a domain name with restricted publication (i.e. personal information are not published in Whois directory), without disclosing their identity or guaranteeing that this person will respond, • Occasional post-registration checks to ensure that the name complies with the domain’s rules, either at AFNIC’s initiative or at the request of a third party with a legitimate reason for enquiring, without disclosing who is involved (Article 17 of the Charter), • Dispute resolution procedure based on third-party claims to resolve obvious breaches of the provisions of the Decree of 6 February 2007 (Decree / Order covering French TLDs management), without disclosing who is involved (the PREDEC procedure), • Disclosing, at the request of a third party, the name and other details of an individual holder registered under restricted publicity, if a protected mark has been reproduced exactly or nearly so (typosquatting, dotsquatting, etc.), • Disclosing a name holder’s contact details following a court judgement, • Blocking by AFNIC of domain names (Article 20 of the Charter), • ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) procedure by expert’s decision, administered by the Arbitration and Mediation Centre of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), • Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) by online recommendation, administered by the Paris Centre for Mediation and Arbitration (CMAP), • Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) by mediation, administered by the Internet Rights Forum (FDI = Forum des droits sur l’internet), in the case of .fr domain names registered by individuals (www.mediateurdunet.fr), • Legal proceedings before the competent court. The details of these various procedures are available online on the AFNIC website29. - 101 -
  • 104. The following figure shows the change in the number of procedures for handling disputes opened per month, in the case of procedures carried out directly by the AFNIC. The PREDEC procedure has been used consistently since its inception in July 2008, indicating that it probably meets the expectations of a number of actors such as rights holders. Its average frequency of use is about 6 procedures opened per month over the past year. Procedures to waive anonymity (at the request of a third party or subsequent to a court order) are the most frequently used, and are also very stable over time, with some thirty procedures a month on average. Updates to the Whois database and eligibility checks vary considerably with time. Change in number of procedures performed by AFNIC as part of disputes over .fr domain names 140 Establishment of the PREDEC procedure PREDEC procedure 120 Update the Whois database Number of procedures initiated per month Waive anonymity 100 Check eligibility 80 60 40 20 0 08 8 9 06 08 09 8 10 6 7 8 09 06 07 08 6 9 6 07 06 09 7 9 07 0 7 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .1 .0 st ne st r. r. ne st r. r. ne st r. ne ct ct ec ct ct br ec ec br ec br br br Ap Ap Ap Ap gu Ap gu gu gu O O O O Ju Ju Fe Ju Fe Ju D Fe Fe D D Fe D Au Au Au Au Months Figure 57 – Changes in the number of proceedings dealt with by AFNIC concerning disputes over .fr domain names ADR-type procedures are relatively few (three per month on average over the past year), and the overwhelming majority are dealt with by the WIPO. It should be noted that these figures are the procedures that the AFNIC is aware of, and does not necessarily cover all the disputes concerning the .fr ccTLD. The number of .fr domain names involved in an alternative dispute resolution procedure has remained fairly stable over time: there were on average over the past year about twenty names subject to the ADR procedure held by legal entities and about fifteen for names held by individuals. - 102 -
  • 105. On one year from June 2009 to June 2010, AFNIC received 74 claims under the PREDEC procedure (procedure for resolving cases of obvious violation of the provisions of the Decree of 6 February 2007)30. The vast majority of disputes concerned intellectual property rights, while some concerned the names of institutions (mostly common names). In two thirds of the cases, the decisions handed down by AFNIC concluded in the transfer of the domain name in question to the claimant, and in the dismissal of the claim in one third of the cases. This procedure now appears to have become customary among law firms and intellectual property consultants, and an indispensable part of the French legal landscape, as has the ADR procedure. Statistics on the procedure for resolving cases of obvious breaches of the provisions of the Decree of 6 February 2007 (PREDEC), between June 2009 and June 2010 PREDEC claims handled by AFNIC Number of claims received 74 Number of decisions handed down by AFNIC 73 Article of the Decree mentioned in claims Article R.20-44-43 (names of Fr. institutions and officials) 9 Article R.20-44-45 (intellectual property rights) 63 Article R.20-44-46 (family names) 2 Decisions handed down by AFNIC Transmission 49 Withdrawal 1 Rejection 23 Table 9 – Statistics on the PREDEC procedure .fr domain names that have been the subject of PREDEC proceedings over the past year include the names of companies or brands (3 Suisses, Auchan, Bouygues Telecom, Bred, Caisse d’Epargne Duracell, Gaz de France, GFI Informatique, LDLC.com, Leclerc, Orange, OVH, PagesJaunes, RATP, Renault, Simyo) and names of municipalities (Chantérac Maurepas, Méricourt, Nemours, Risoul, Velaux) or public institutions (Tribunal administratif [Administrative Tribunal]). Finally, the names blocked by AFNIC oscillated around 1,500 for corporations and 150 for private individuals, with a few occasional peaks in 2010. - 103 -
  • 106. UDRP disputes handled by WIPO • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • The following results are derived from statistics provided by the Arbitration and Mediation Center of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) on procedures of the UDRP type (Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy)31. They only concern procedures of this type brought before this body, given that disputes about the different Top Level Domains can also be treated with other procedures and by other agencies, such as the Paris Mediation and Arbitration Centre and the Forum of Internet Rights for .fr, or ADNDRC (Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre), ACC (Czech Arbitration Court) and NAF (National Arbitration Forum) for generic TLDs. The overwhelming majority of domain names involved in UDRP proceedings handled by WIPO is logically under .com, the leader in terms of the numbers of domains registered, with nearly 4,000 names involved in a dispute settlement procedure in 2009. It is followed by .net, .org and .info (between 100 and 200 domains each). As for .fr, only 43 domain names were subject to a WIPO UDRP procedure in 2009. The changes over time in the number of names involved in this procedure vary considerably from one year to the next, with marked peaks in 2000, 2005 and 2009 for .com. Change in the number of domain names involved in a UDRP at WIPO, by Top Level Domain (according to WIPO) 4,000 Number of domain names subject to a UDRP procedure 3,500 3,000 .com 2,500 .net .org 2,000 .info .fr 1,500 .mobi .biz 1,000 500 0 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Years Figure 58 – Changes in the number of domain names involved in WIPO proceedings - 104 -
  • 107. The ratio of the number of domain names involved in UDRP proceedings at WIPO for 100,000 registered domain names fell sharply for .fr between 2008 and 2009 (from 7.5 to 2.7 per 100,000 disputed domains). The French domain is well behind the .com and .mobi gTLDs, but has stayed ahead of the other generic domains .net, .org, .info and .biz. This sharp decline in UDRP proceedings concerning .fr could be the result of the success of the PREDEC procedure established by AFNIC in 2009 and represents an interesting alternative for rights holders. The following figure shows the distribution for .fr domain names of UDRP procedures handled at the WIPO according to the final decisions rendered by the experts at the conclusion of these procedures in 2009. It can be seen that a majority of the disputes ended in favour of the claimants: two thirds of the procedures lead into effect to a transfer of the disputed domain names. The procedure resulted in no further action in 22% of the cases, for example as a result of an amicable agreement between the parties. Finally the claim was rejected in 12% of the cases, the defendant then being entitled to keep the domain name. Compared with the 2008 figures, the cases of transfer have increased dramatically (+10 points), to the detriment of cases resulting in no further action. Classification of UDRP cases handled by WIPO on .fr domain names according to the decision handed down, in 2009 (according to WIPO) In 2009: Claim rejected 41 decisions were handed down 5 decisions 12% by the WIPO further to UDRP procedures involving .fr domain names Filed 9 decisions 22% Referred 27 decisions 66% Figure 59 – Decisions resulting from WIPO proceedings concerning .fr domain names - 105 -
  • 108. .fr domain names that led to a UDRP decision at the WIPO in the first half of 2010 concern large French or foreign companies (Air France, CIC, Crédit Mutuel, Duracell, LEGO, Mazars, PagesJaunes, Viapresse.com, etc.). The figures below give a breakdown per country of origin of the claimants and defendants involved in UDRP proceedings handled by WIPO between 1999 and 2010. The USA has by far the greatest share in both figures, due to its predominance on the Internet. France accounts for some 11% of the complainants and 3% of the defendants: it would appear therefore that French firms are more often victims than perpetrators of cybersquatting activities. This figure of 11% of complaints concerning generic Top Level Domains by French organisations should be compared with that of 2.6% for names registered in France under these domains. The contrast highlights the tendency of French firms to take legal action rather than conduct defensive registrations beforehand. They can accordingly be seen to register fewer names than their counterparts in other countries, but to be more vigilant over infringements of their trademarks in the sphere of domain names. Classification of UDRP cases handled by WIPO between 1999 and August 2010 by country of claimant (according to WIPO) Brazil; 1.0% India; 1.0% Other countries; The claimaints are French 8.9% Japan; 1.1% in 10.9% of the UDRP Sweden; 1.6% procedures handled by WIPO Denmark; 1.6% Australia; 1.7% Canada; 1.9% Netherlands; 2.2% USA; 41.8% Italy; 3.4% Spain; 4.5% Switzerland; 5.3% Germany; 5.7% UK; 7.4% France; 10.9% Figure 60 – Countries of origin of most defendants involved in WIPO proceedings - 106 -
  • 109. If French players are less often defendants than claimants, their weight in litigation as defendants (3.3%) remains higher than the weight of the names registered in France for generic domains (2.6%). This difference might lead one to suspect that there are professional cybersquatters to be found in France. In addition, cases of disputes in which the defendant is Chinese rose sharply last year (+0.7 points accumulated since 2009), indicating a growing concentration of cases of cybersquatting of domain names in China. Classification of UDRP cases handled by WIPO between 1999 and August 2010 by country of the defendant (according to WIPO) The defendants are French in Other countries; 17.0% 3.3% of the UDRP procedures handled by WIPO. Bahamas; 1.0% Panama; 1.1% Turkey; 1.2% USA; 37.7% Italy; 1.4% Switzerland; 1.4% Russia; 1.5% Germany; 1.6% India; 1.6% Netherlands; 2.0% Australia; 2.4% France; 3.3% Rep. of Korea; 3.6% Canada; 4.4% UK; 8.4% Spain; 4.5% China; 5.9% Figure 61 – Countries of origin of most defendants involved in WIPO proceedings Regarding the language used in UDRP cases handled by WIPO, English is widely predominant (more than 8 out of 10 procedures). In 2009, about 4% of UDRP cases used French, up 0.4 points year on year. There was also a marked increase in Spanish (+1.2 point) to the detriment of the English language (-2.3). - 107 -
  • 110. Part Seven: Conclusions Chapter 20 Market trends and prospects The purpose of this chapter is to provide a review of the past year and offer an analysis of the trends and prospects for the French domain name industry with a particular focus on the .fr Top Level Domain. Review of the year ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• On 2 March 2010, AFNIC was designated by the French Minister of Industry as the registry for the .fr. contry-code Top Level Domain, following a call for applications published on 15 January 2009 for a period of seven years32. This decision reinforces the development policy for the TLD which began several years and places the .fr today as the first choice for French users. The contractual framework that accompanied this designation identifies several structural changes to the ways in which the domain is managed: • An easing of registration requirements for the .fr TLD (opening to French citizens living abroad, and then to individuals and organisations domiciled within the European Union), • Actions designed to improve the transparency and clarity of offerings to end-users (special status for registrars, Quality of Service Report and rates), • Greater contribution to research and development, • And increased involvement in security (its own Anycast cloud, data escrow on a secure site, establishment of a Business Continuity Plan, etc.). The .fr Top Level Domain was opened to the French citizens residing overseas in March 2010: French citizens living abroad can now register domain names of their choice without having to prove they have an address in France. To lighten the geographic audits of holders, no new technical test is now performed further to the registration request, it being possible to trigger a verification of the holder’s eligibility at a later date further to a complaint from a third party, or by means of random audits. In terms of quality of service, starting in July 2010 AFNIC will publish a monthly dashboard on the quality of its services, with indicators measuring the achievement of its various activities (DNS service, registration service, customer service). Moreover, AFNIC carried out a satisfaction survey of its registrars in December 2009 in order to assess the quality of its services. The responses reflected a good overall satisfaction rate (7.1 out of 10, up 0.4 points from February 2009), in particular those concerning the relationship between the providers and the registry, the available procedures and registration interfaces. In terms of communication, in September 2009 AFNIC launched a communication campaign entitled “.fr, and that’s the bottom line!” (“Le .fr, un point c’est tout !”) targeting the written press, web and television audiences, designed both for private individuals and legal entities. - 108 -
  • 111. In terms of security, the root zone for the .fr and .re ccTLDs using the DNSSEC protocol was signed on 14 September 2010. The DNSSEC protocol (for “DNS Security Extensions”) provides greater security for the DNS against cache poisoning attacks. The attacks are designed to capture and divert DNS requests without users realising it, the risk being that they disclose personal data in the belief that they are on the legitimate site of the victim of the attack. After the discovery in 2008 of the “Kaminsky flaw”, which facilitates such attacks, many registries have decided to accelerate the work already under way on implementing DNSSEC. The global DNS root zone was signed by ICANN and VeriSign in July 2010 and the .fr TLD is now one of the fifteen Top Level Domains for which the zones have been signed. DNS security, however, is based on a chain of trust between all the stakeholders involved and for this reason requires multi-party cooperation. The deployment of DNSSEC on AFNIC servers must now be pursued by the managers of DNS servers among the registrars, ISPs and corporate users. AFNIC will provide awareness training with that objective in mind. In addition, a new version of the ZoneCheck software, which ensures the quality and stability of a domain name by checking its correct technical configuration, has been available since late September with DNSSEC testing features. To enhance the performance and security of its DNS infrastructure, in January 2010 AFNIC also deployed its own “anycast” cloud, which distributes the authoritative server function on a set of geographically remote physical servers. While maintaining its global coverage with some 60 nodes, AFNIC has installed new DNS servers in several locations, including Lyon (Rézopole / Lyonix) and Reunion Island, with Brussels and Paris to come in the near future. Outlooks ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Since the surprise announcement by ICANN in 2008 to liberalise the process of creating new Top Level Domains, the delays have continued to accumulate. The latest version of the Applicant Guidebook, however, should be finalised in late 2010, thereby allowing new TLDs to emerge in mid 2011. There is no shortage in ideas, with some 200 new domains proposed to represent a city, region, community or business. It should be recalled in this connection that in September 2009 the city of Paris chose the AFNIC-CORE consortium to be the technical partner for its .paris domain project. In parallel, an expedited review process has already enabled a number of countries to obtain an internationalised TLD from ICANN, an equivalent of the name of the country in its national characters (including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Russia). A major change in the rules for registration of the .fr will be held in late 2011 with its opening to the European Union. Against this background, from July to September 2010 AFNIC carried out a large-scale public consultation to clarify the conditions for opening the .fr TLD to European companies and private individuals residing within the European Union. This development could eventually lead to significant changes in the structure of the market for .fr registrars, if new major European providers decide to enter the market after it opens. - 109 -
  • 112. In order to improve the transparency and readability of registration offers for .fr domain names, in early 2011, AFNIC will introduce a Quality of Service Report on registrars. Carried out by a neutral, independent party, the report, which will be based on a questionnaire and a series of technical indicators, should provide existing and prospective holders with a clear idea of the performance and market positioning of the various providers. In addition, AFNIC will establish a certification for registrars in the form of a differentiation status enabling them to highlight their expertise. On a broader level, AFNIC continues to be involved in discussions on technical and organisational developments for the Internet. In its contribution of July 2009 to the public consultation on the “Future Internet” organised by the department of the French Secretary of State in charge of Strategic Planning and the Development of the Digital Economy, AFNIC identified several priorities: building a global communications infrastructure based on open standards and interoperable systems, the need for incremental research with a strong experimental component, and the organisation of French research on the Internet of the future in the form of a local ecosystem fully integrated at the global level. Finally, AFNIC is also continuing its research and development work, for example in the field of the Internet of Things, with the establishment of a “federated ONS” platform to delegate the management of object naming between multiple stakeholders as part of a new model of decentralised governance. - 110 -
  • 115. About AFNIC AFNIC is a non-profit association (under the 1901 Act) set up by the French authorities in December 1997 to manage the .fr and .re, two Internet Top Level Domains for French territories (France and Reunion Island). AFNIC’s members include individuals and legal entities, five of whom are appointed by public authorities (two by INRIA for historical reasons, two by the French Industry Ministry and one by the French Research Ministry). The other five members are elected from among registrars (two), users’ representatives (two) and the International College (one). AFNIC works to encourage growth of the .fr domain by establishing flexible rules and facilitating automation of the registration process, while still making sure that all parties are in a position to insist on their rights. This objective is allied to a cost-conscious charging system which has enabled AFNIC to cut its fees to € 4.80, under a third of the € 15 charged in 2002. Thanks to its expertise in DNS and Internet technologies, AFNIC is also committed to an active programme of Research and Development with a view to maintaining that expertise and extending it as the Internet continues to make massive technological strides. That R&D effort directly benefits AFNIC’s customers and members through the services which depend on the outcome of such endeavours. Finally, AFNIC has decided to capitalise on its core business, the technical management of Internet TLD registries, in order to become involved in the programme to create new Top Level Domains initiated by ICANN in 2008. It supports several projects in this capacity, both in the application phase with ICANN and in the subsequent management of the domains when they have been delegated. In particular the city of Paris has chosen AFNIC as the technical operator for the future .paris TLD. As a neutral, independent body, AFNIC can legitimately assume the role of prime contractor for a monitoring platform enabling all the stakeholders to benefit from the results of studies that they could not consider carrying out o their own. - 113 -
  • 116. Contents Overview ..................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 6 The purpose of a French Domain Name Industry Report ................................................... 6 Executive summary .................................................................................................... 7 Growth well above the average rate for Top Level Domains ............................................ 7 A steadily growing pool of names ....................................................................................... 8 Young urban registrants ........................................................................................................ 9 On-going market concentration ......................................................................................... 9 A zone secured by DNSSEC and anycast ............................................................................ 10 Professional web uses and e-mail addresses for private individuals................................ 11 Expected changes in France and worldwide ..................................................................... 12 Part One: Background ............................................................................................... 13 Chapter 1: The Internet in France ......................................................................................... 13 Internet users increasingly numerous and better equipped ..................................................................13 International comparisons ....................................................................................................................15 Chapter 2: Domain names worldwide ................................................................................. 16 Use of domain names in the world .......................................................................................................16 Geographical distribution of domain names .........................................................................................19 Chapter 3: Domain names in France ................................................................................... 20 Market share for Top Level Domains in France ....................................................................................20 Part Two: .fr domain names ...................................................................................... 22 Chapter 4: Number of .fr domain names ............................................................................ 22 Number of .fr domain names ..............................................................................................................22 Private individuals and legal entities .....................................................................................................23 Renewal of .fr domain names ..............................................................................................................24 Chapter 5: Number of .fr domain names per holder ......................................................... 25 Private individuals ...............................................................................................................................25 Legal entities ........................................................................................................................................26 Chapter 6: Lexicographical structure of .fr domain names ............................................. 27 Length of .fr domain names .................................................................................................................27 Hyphens and numbers in .fr domain names ........................................................................................28 Terms used in .fr domain names ..........................................................................................................28 Combinations registered as .fr domain names .....................................................................................30 Searches using various lists of terms ......................................................................................................30 French words registered as .fr domain names ........................................................................................30 Names of French municipalities registered as .fr domain names ...........................................................31 Business names and trademarks registered as .fr domain names ...........................................................32 - 114 -
  • 117. Part Three: Holders ...................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 7: The location of private registrants of .fr domain names ................................. 34 Opening remarks..................................................................................................................................34 Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals .............................................................35 Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants ...........................36 Growth rate over one year ....................................................................................................................39 Chapter 8: The location of legal entities registrants of .fr domain names ....................... 41 Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities.......................................................................41 Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies .....................................43 Growth rate over one year ....................................................................................................................46 Chapter 9: Location of private individual and legal entities holding .fr domain names ....................................................................................................................... 48 Total number of .fr domain names (private individuals and legal entities). ...........................................48 Chapter 10: Ages of individual holders of .fr domain names. .......................................... 51 Age pyramid of individual holders of .fr domain names .......................................................................51 Changes in the ages of individual holders of .fr domain names .............................................................53 Part Four: Registrars .................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 11: Registrars of .fr domain names........................................................................ 54 Number of registrars of .fr domain names ............................................................................................54 Location of registrars of .fr domain names............................................................................................55 Chapter 12: Services and prices offered by registrars ....................................................... 59 Services offered by registrars .................................................................................................................59 Registrars’ charges.................................................................................................................................60 Chapter 13: Analysis of the registrar market ....................................................................... 62 Market for registrars of .fr domain names .............................................................................................62 Changes in the market for registrars of .fr domain names .....................................................................67 Catchment areas of registrars of .fr domain names ...............................................................................69 The market for ICANN-accredited registrars ........................................................................................72 Registrars that are both ICANN-accredited and .fr providers ...............................................................76 Chapter 14: Analysis of the secondary market ................................................................... 77 The secondary domain name market worldwide (DN Journal) ............................................................77 The secondary domain name market worldwide (Sedo) ........................................................................79 Secondary market for .fr domain names (Sedo) ....................................................................................82 Part Five: Technologies .............................................................................................. 84 Chapter 15: DNS Servers ........................................................................................................ 84 Number of DNS servers per .fr domain name ......................................................................................84 Number of .fr domain names per DNS server ......................................................................................84 Requests received by authoritative DNS servers managed by AFNIC ...................................................85 Chapter 16: Using IPv6 addresses......................................................................................... 87 Procedure used in searching for IPv6 addresses .....................................................................................87 IPv6-compatible .fr domain names .....................................................................................................87 International comparisons ....................................................................................................................89 - 115 -
  • 118. Part Six: Uses................................................................................................................ 90 Chapter 17: Use of .fr domain names on the Web ............................................................. 90 Responses from web servers associated with .fr domain names .............................................................90 Types of website associated with .fr domain names ...............................................................................92 Chapter 18: Perception of .fr domain names ..................................................................... 95 Perception of the .fr domain.................................................................................................................95 Values associated with the .fr domain ...................................................................................................97 Expectations associated with acquiring .fr domain names .....................................................................98 Acquisition of .fr domain names ..........................................................................................................99 Use of .fr domain names ......................................................................................................................100 Chapter 19: Disputes over domain names in France ......................................................... 101 Disputes over .fr domain names ...........................................................................................................101 UDRP disputes handled by WIPO ......................................................................................................104 Part Seven: Conclusions ............................................................................................ 108 Chapter 20: Market trends and prospects ........................................................................... 108 Review of the year ................................................................................................................................108 Outlooks ..............................................................................................................................................109 About AFNIC ............................................................................................................... 113 Contents ...................................................................................................................... 114 List of tables ................................................................................................................. 117 List of figures ................................................................................................................ 118 List of notes .................................................................................................................. 120 Glossary ....................................................................................................................... 122 - 116 -
  • 119. List of tables Table 1 – Internet statistics for France in 2010 .............................................................................14 Table 2 – Annual change in the ages of individual holders of .fr domain names ...........................53 Table 3 – Concentration indices for the market for .fr domain names registered by private individuals ..................................................................................................................63 Table 4 – Concentration indices for the market for .fr domain names registered by legal entities ............................................................................................................................64 Table 5 – Concentration indices for the overall market for .fr domain names (private individuals and legal entities included)............................................................................66 Table 6 – Concentration indices for the world market in generic domain names ..........................75 Table 7 – French ICANN-accredited registrars .............................................................................75 Table 8 – Characteristics of websites associated with .fr domain names ........................................94 Table 9 – Statistics on the PREDEC procedure .............................................................................103 - 117 -
  • 120. List of figures Figure 1 – Setting up of websites by European companies ............................................................15 Figure 2 – Number of domain names per Top Level Domain ........................................................16 Figure 3 – Annual growth in the number of domain names per Top Level Domain ......................17 Figure 4 – Development in the normalised number of domain names per type of Top Level Domain ....................................................................................................................18 Figure 5 – Distribution of generic domain names per country......................................................19 Figure 6 – Breakdown of domain names registered in France .......................................................20 Figure 7 – Growth in the total number of .fr domain names .........................................................22 Figure 8 – Percentage of .fr domain names registered by private individuals ................................23 Figure 9 – Renewal of .fr domain names ......................................................................................24 Figure 10 – Number of .fr domain names per holder for private individuals ................................26 Figure 11 – Length of .fr domain names .......................................................................................28 Figure 12 – Main terms used in .fr domain names .......................................................................29 Figure 13 – Proportion of French words registered as .fr domain names .......................................31 Figure 14 – Proportion of business names and trademarks registered as .fr domain names .........33 Figure 15 – Distribution per country of the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals ...................................................................................................................35 Figure 16 – Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants (Metropolitan France) ................................................................................37 Figure 17 – Number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals per 1,000 inhabitants (Overseas territories) ..................................................................................38 Figure 18 – Annual growth rate in the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals (Metropolitan France)................................................................................39 Figure 19 – Annual growth rate in the number of .fr domain names registered by private individuals (Overseas territories)..................................................................................40 Figure 20 – Distribution per country of the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities .............................................................................................................................42 Figure 21 – Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies (Metropolitan France)...................................................................................................................44 Figure 22 – Number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities per 1,000 companies (Overseas) .....................................................................................................................................45 Figure 23 – Annual percentage increase in the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities (Metropolitan France) .........................................................................................46 Figure 24 – Annual percentage increase in the number of .fr domain names registered by legal entities (Overseas) ............................................................................................................47 Figure 25 – Total number of .fr domain names (Metropolitan France) .........................................49 Figure 26 – Total number of .fr domain names (Overseas territories) ...........................................50 Figure 27 – Comparison of age pyramids for individual holders of .fr domain names, and the French population ............................................................................................................52 Figure 28 – Changes in the number of registrars of .fr domain names ..........................................54 Figure 29 – Distribution of registrars of .fr domain names (Metropolitan France) .......................56 Figure 30 – Distribution of registrars of .fr domain names (Overseas territories) .........................57 Figure 31 – Distribution of registrars of .fr domain names outside France ...................................58 Figure 32 – Rates for .fr domain names ........................................................................................61 Figure 33 – Ranking of registrars in relation to the total number of .fr domain names.................65 Figure 34 – Main registrars ranked by the overall number of .fr domain names ...........................67 Figure 35 – Changes in concentration indices for the registration market of .fr domain names in terms of the stock of names managed, and new names registered..............................................68 - 118 -
  • 121. Figure 36 – Relationship between the size of the catchment area and the domain name portfolio of .fr registrars for private individuals............................................................................70 Figure 37 – Relationship between the size of the catchment area and the domain name portfolio of .fr registrars for legal entities .....................................................................................71 Figure 38 – Distribution per country of ICANN-accredited registrars ..........................................72 Figure 39 – Distribution of generic domain names per country of registrar .................................73 Figure 40 – Ranking of registrars in relation to the total number of generic domain names .........74 Figure 41 – The most expensive country-code domain names sold on the secondary market ........78 Figure 42 – Volumes of transactions per Top Level Domains on Sedo ...........................................79 Figure 43 – Average price of domain names sold on Sedo, per Top Level Domain ........................80 Figure 44 – Mean prices of domain names sold on Sedo, per Top Level Domain ..........................81 Figure 45 – Monthly figures for transactions in .fr domain names on Sedo ..................................82 Figure 46 – Prices of .fr domain names sold on Sedo ....................................................................83 Figure 47 – Number of requests received by AFNIC-run authoritative DNS servers for the .fr domain .........................................................................................................................85 Figure 48 – Type of requests received by an AFNIC-run authoritative DNS server for the .fr domain .........................................................................................................................86 Figure 49 – Percentage of IPv6-compatible .fr domain names .....................................................88 Figure 50 – Categories of response codes returned by web servers associated with .fr domain names ..................................................................................................................91 Figure 51 – Top Level Domains used for redirects associated with .fr domain names ...................92 Figure 52 – Types of website associated with .fr domain names ....................................................94 Figure 53 – Perception of the .fr domain .....................................................................................96 Figure 54 – Values associated with the .fr domain .........................................................................97 Figure 55 – Expectations associated with acquiring .fr domain names ..........................................98 Figure 56 – Acquisition of .fr domain names ................................................................................99 Figure 57 – Changes in the number of proceedings dealt with by AFNIC concerning disputes over .fr domain names...................................................................................................................102 Figure 58 – Changes in the number of domain names involved in WIPO proceedings .................104 Figure 59 – Decisions resulting from WIPO proceedings concerning .fr domain names ..............105 Figure 60 – Countries of origin of most defendants involved in WIPO proceedings.....................106 Figure 61 – Countries of origin of most defendants involved in WIPO proceedings.....................107 - 119 -
  • 122. List of notes 1 ARCEP, 2009 Annual Survey conducted for ARCEP and CGIET by CREDOC on the dissemination of new information and communication technologies in French society, http://www.arcep.fr/uploads/tx_gspublication/etude-credoc-2009-111209.pdf 2 ARCEP, Quarterly report on electronic communications markets in France - Q1 2010 - Final results, http://www.arcep.fr/index.php?id=10519 3 Eurostat, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat 4 Dot and Co, ICANN registries, http://www.dotandco.net/ressources/icann_registries/volumes.fr 5 WebHosting.Info, http://www.webhosting.info/ 6 AFNIC, Statistics, http://www.afnic.fr/actu/stats 7 French Ministry of Education, List of the most frequent words of the French language drawn up by the lexicographer Étienne Brunet, http://eduscol.education.fr/cid50486/vocabulaire.html 8 Olivier Bacquet, Dubois-Buyse graduated spelling list, http://o.bacquet.free.fr/db2.htm 9 Christophe Pallier, List of French words, April 2004, http://www.pallier.org/ressources/dicofr/dicofr.html 10 Wikipedia, List of France’s most densely-populated towns, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_communes_de_France_les_plus_peupl%C3%A9es 11 Wikipedia, List of towns in France with more than 20,000 inhabitants, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_communes_de_France_de_plus_de_20_000_habitants 12 LEXILOGOS, Population of towns with over 10,000 inhabitants in 2006, http://www.lexilogos.com/population_communes.htm 13 INSEE, Official Geographic Code, http://www.insee.fr/fr/methodes/nomenclatures/cog/ 14 Wikipedia, CAC 40, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAC_40 15 Wikipedia ranking of the largest French companies in 2006, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classement_des_plus_grandes_entreprises_fran%C3%A7aises_en_2006 16 L’Expansion.com, The 1,000 leading French groups and their subsidiaries in terms of sales turnover (industry, services and trade), http://www.lexpansion.com/economie/classement/ 17 Fortune, Global 500, Annual ranking of the world’s largest corporations, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/ 18 Wikipedia, Brand mapping, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartographie_des_marques 19 INSEE, Annual population estimates on 1 January, by region, department, sex and age, 1990 2008, http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/detail.asp?ref_id=estim-pop&reg_id=99 20 INSEE, Demography of companies and plants, 2009 – non-agricultural trading sectors, http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/detail.asp?reg_id=99&ref_id=fd-sidemo09 21 Dot and Co, ICANN Registrars, http://www.dotandco.net/ressources/icann_registrars/index.fr 22 DN Journal, Year-To-Date Top 100 Domain Sales Chart, http://www.dnjournal.com/ytd-sales-charts.htm 23 Sedo, Secondary Market Report for domain names in 2009: growth is on the go ..., 09/02/2010, http://www.sedo.com/presse/presse.php?id=299 24 Sedo, Sedo study for Q2 2010, 02/08/2010, http://www.sedo.com/links/showlinks.php3?language=fr&Id=2680 25 AFNIC, DNSwitness, http://www.dnswitness.net/ 26 OECD, OECD Resources on Internet addressing: IPv4 and IPv6, www.oecd.org/sti/tic/ipv6 27 Internet Association Japan, Measurement of IPv6 readiness: DNS Deployment, http://v6metric.inetcore.com/en/html/st04/index.html - 120 -
  • 123. 28 AFNIC, 2010 survey on the perception of .fr reveals a clear preference in favour of .fr domain names, http://www.afnic.fr/actu/nouvelles/259/bilan-2010-de-la-perception-du-fr-un-bilan-qui-revele-une- preference-marquee-pour-les-noms-de-domaine-en-fr 29 AFNIC, Legal References, http://www.afnic.fr/doc/ref/juridique 30 AFNIC, Dispute resolution procedure for obvious breaches of the Decree dated 6 February 2007, http://www.afnic.fr/doc/ref/juridique/predec 31 WIPO, Domain Name Dispute Resolution Statistics, http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/statistics/ 32 Changes on the way for the .fr domain, http://www.afnic.fr/actu/nouvelles/243/le-fr-ce-qui-va-changer - 121 -
  • 124. Glossary ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution procedure ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line AFNIC Association Française pour le Nommage Internet en Coopération Anycast Addressing and routing technique used to redirect data to the “nearest” or the “most effective” server according to routing policy. ARCEP Autorité de Régulation des Communications Électroniques et des Postes - French Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Post ccTLD country-code Top Level Domain CMAP Centre de Médiation et d’Arbitrage de Paris - Paris Mediation and Arbitration Centre CR Concentration Ratio, a commonly accepted measure of market concentration DNS Domain Name System DNSSEC Domain Name System Security Extensions EPP Extensible Provisioning Protocol, a protocol for exchanges among registries and registrars FDI Forum des droits sur l’Internet - Internet Rights Forum gTLD generic Top Level Domain HHI Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, a commonly accepted measure of market concentration ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers IDN Internationalized Domain Name INSEE Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques - French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies IP Internet Protocol IPv6 Internet Protocol - version 6 PREDEC Procédure de résolution des cas de violations manifestes des dispositions du décret du 6 février 2007 - Dispute resolution procedure for obvious breaches of the Decree dated 6 February 2007 Registry Body (association, company, etc.) in charge of managing the database of a TLD, or of IP addresses for a specified region - 122 -
  • 125. SME Small and medium-size enterprises TLD Top Level Domain UDRP Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy URL Uniform Resource Locator VSE Very Small Enterprise Whois Service for searching registry databases for information on a domain name or IP address WIPO World Intellectual Property Organisation - 123 -
  • 127. www.afnic.fr - [email protected] Immeuble International - 78181 Saint Quentin en Yvelines Cedex - France Phone: +33 1 39 30 83 00 - Fax: +33 1 39 30 83 01 Siret: 414 757 567 00022 - APE: 6311Z - TVA n° FR 72 414 757 567 Copyright 2010 AFNIC Every quotation or reproduction must mention the source: “French Domain Name Industry Report - 2010 Edition - www.afnic.fr” This document is printed on 100% recycled paper. - 125 -