EuroDNS Welcomes AFNIC's One Millionth .fr Domain Registration as a Generic Term

EuroDNS (http://v2.eurodns.com/), a leading .FR Registrar, is delighted to see the .FR Registry (l'Association Francaise pour le Nommage Internet en Cooperation) reaching one million domain name registrations in the French country code top-level domain (ccTLD). BlogArtDeco.fr, the millionth domain, was entered into the AFNIC database on January 11, 2008.

AFNIC (http://www.afnic.fr/_en) is a nonprofit association that acts as Registry for the database of .FR domain names, used by organizations and people within the country of France.

"This is a significant milestone for French e-commerce," said Frederick Schiwek, EVP International Business Development. "The fact that the millionth .Fr Domain Name is a generic term is also of particular interest: It shows that French Internet users get the importance of easy-to-remember domain names and that a name does not need to be a trademark to be useful."

Since June 2006, when .FR was open for the very first time to individuals residing in France, registrations by private persons have grown to represent 30 percent of total registrations. It is therefore no surprise that the 1,000,000th .FR was registered by a French young lady passionate about in-house design. Participating in several AFNIC Working Groups - including Legal and Marketing - to help promote the .FR image, EuroDNS is proud to be part of this ongoing evolution towards openness.

"A survey carried out for AFNIC found that 72 percent of respondents were more favorably inclined toward companies that advertised an Internet address bearing a .FR domain name," said Schiwek. "France is one of the largest countries within the European Union, so business entities and individuals have the potential to attract a substantial customer base or online community."

As a registry, AFNIC does not sell domain names itself. Instead, Registrars such as EuroDNS are authorized to act as intermediaries and charge fees to eligible applicants that transfer or order domains. EuroDNS charges an annual fee of 18 euros for each domain name and facilitates registration and setup for no extra charge.

Registrants interested in obtaining a .FR domain must be either a company with a main place of business in France or a French resident aged 18 or over. Interested parties can find more information or sign up for .FR domains at http://v2.eurodns.com/.

About EuroDNS

EuroDNS is a domain name Registrar specialized in International Domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world's largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-commerce and wider Internet adoption. http://www.eurodns.com/

Contact: Melanie Delannoy DCL Group 2, Rue Leon laval 3372 Leudelange, Luxembourg Phone: +352 261916312 mdelannoy@dclux.com

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